Shed Skin
by Fenghuang0296
Summary: Pythor wasn't the only Anacondrai who survived the years buried in the tombs. And not every snake is cold-blooded. AU from Can of Worms onwards.
1. Escape

Chapter 1: Escape

 **This was somewhat inspired by the way that it was revealed that the Serpentine weren't all bad during what I refer to as the 'Condrai Cultist' arc of the TV show, and the way that Skales had a wife in that one episode of the 'Rebooted' arc. It always kinda bugged me that none of the snakes were visibly female. It's not like the show tries to be sexist or anything, with the possible exception of the pilot arc - we got Nya, Skylor, Misako, The Preeminent, etc. - and I know there's only so many ways you can make a snake look feminine, but regardless. And I also had a thought, the Anacondrai can turn invisible, right? So how can Pythor be so sure that every last one of them starved to death? Is it so impossible that a bunch of them were invisible for ages? Right?**

 **Anyways. That's what I think, so that's what I'm writing. :P**

 **A/N**

A/N

"If you'd unleashed the Constrictai, the Venomari, or heaven forbid the Anacondrai, then, we would have had a tussle," Lloyd Garmadon mockingly repeated Fangtom, the general of the Serpentine Tribe known as the Fangpyre, 's words as he trudged throut the seemingly endless desert. He had gone to so much trouble freeing the Fangpyre tribe, one of the five tribes of the legendary Serpentine who had terrorised the land of Ninjago many years ago, in order to get revenge on the Hypnobrai, who he had also released in hopes of making the snakes become his own personal army. His plans to take revenge on the Hypnobrai and the pesky Ninja who had given his father, Lord Montgomery Garmadon, Lord of Darkness, so much trouble, had gone out the window when Fangtom had discovered that Skales, the leader of the Hypnobrai, was actually an old friend of his. The two generals and their respective tribes had immediately ganged up on him and he had barely escaped with his life. So, naturally, the budding evil overlord had decided that the best way to get revenge on the Fangpyre and Hypnobrai was to release a third of the five Serpentine tribes, and this time the most feared, powerful and dangerous tribe of all. The legendary Anacondrai.

Lloyd grinned as he came upon a cave in the desert. "I've found it! The Anacondrai!" he grinned madly, running towards the thick, impenetrable door to the cave, and pressed the button that would release the seal and open the door.

The mighty door swung open with a hiss of escaping air, and Lloyd nervously walked into the tomb. "Hello? Is anyone here?" he called, and gulped at the sight of a pile f bones lying against the wall.

A menacing hiss echoed through the cavern, and Lloyd gulped. A long, thin, purple-and-black snake flickered into existence behind him. After a moment, the child looked around and shrieked in fear at the menacing sight of the massive Serpentine, before dropping his torch and backing away in fright. The snake snatched up the torch with his long tail and - kindly and gently offered it back to Lloyd. "I believe you dropped this," he pleasantly commented. Lloyd took his torch back. "Uh, thanks," he shrugged, a little nervous.

"My deepest apologies if I frightened you," the snake nodded. "What happened to the rest of the tribe?" Lloyd asked in confusion. "Oh, you know, all those years locked away in the darkness without food. Must have slowly starved away," the snake shrugged. The boy suddenly winced at how thin the snake actually did look.

"So, my little appetiz- ah, I mean, friend, what's your name?" the purple snake asked. "I'm Lloyd Garmadon, son of Lord Garmadon, and future dark ruler," the child evilly grinned. "Oh my, how terrifying! If I had feet, I'm sure I'd be quaking in my boots right now!" the snake overdramatically exclaimed, and Lloyd grinned. "So what's your name?"

"Pythor P. Chumsworth, and since you released me, I am honour-bound to serve you with my life," the snake bowed to him, and Lloyd chuckled, then thought for a second. "Hey, Pythor. How would you like to be my henchman?"

"A henchman?" Pythor blinked in surprise. "Why of course, it would be my honour. Now, master Lloyd, what shall we do first?" the snake grinned maliciously. Lloyd mirrored his expression, with an evil glint in his eye. "I have the perfect plan to warm up,"

Behind them, a shadow being cast by nothing in sight appeared against the glare of the sun and paused for a moment, before silently slinking out into the desert.

X

A great crimson-and-brown schooner soared through the sky, carried through the air by two dual-sets of thick jet propellers. This magnificent vessel was the Destiny's Bounty. A month and a half ago this ship had been an abandoned wreck lying in the middle of the desert, but since it's current inhabitants had moved in, a lot of refurbishments and improvements had been made.

Especially since it was now home to Jay, the Blue Ninja, Master of Lightning and self-proclaimed inventor extraordinaire. He was responsible for these modifications, along with Nya, younger sister to Kai, the Red Ninja of Fire and Jay's teammate, who, due to not being one of the Ninjas herself and therefore usually being confined to the Bounty while the Ninja were on missions, had FAR too much free time on her hands.

An enticing smell wafted upwards into the stratosphere from one of the ship's potholes carried by a plume of steam. This pothole lead into the kitchen, where the White Ninja, Master of Ice, Zane, was preparing dinner for his teammates.

While dressed in a pink cooking apron.

"I can't believe he actually still wears that!" Cole, the Black Ninja and Master of Earth, chuckled from where he was peeping in at the door. "I know, right?" Jay tittered from a few centimetres below him.

Zane immediately looked in their direction and his teammates rapidly ducked behind the wall. "I am fully aware that you are there, you two," he frowned.

"Yeah? Well, you don't know which two of us it is, do you?" Jay shot back and Cole groaned. Zane would easily be able to recognise Jay's voice.

"Based on my knowledge of the sounds of your voices, it is Jay and Cole, correct?" Zane asked with a small smile. "Wha- how did he know?" Jay demanded. "Because he recognized the sound of our voices, dumbass," Cole groaned.

Zane returned his attention to preparing the meal. "Ah, burtleberry pie. Such a sweet smell," he smiled.

X

Upstairs, an extremely elderly-looking man who was probably even more old than he looked was sitting on a rug and meditating. His long, thick, white mustache and beard crinkled in a smile as he heard the sounds of his pupils' day-to-day lives. This was Sensei Wu, the elderly instructor of the four Ninja and son of the First Spinjitzu Master, the creator of the world of Ninjago. "Hmm, what mysteries does tomorrow hold? Perhaps I can help my pupils to be prepared?" he wondered, and, striking a match, set fire to a stick of incense. Cyan-blue smoke billowed from the stick and condensed into a thick veil in the air in front of him. Slowly, the twisting and coiling shapes of the smoke resolved themselves into new forms and shapes.

The first thing the Sensel saw was that his four pupils were wearing armoured, flashy new uniforms. "I see that my pupils' new uniforms will arrive the day after tomorrow. Good to know, but I was hoping for something a little more immediate," Wu concentrated, and the image reformed itself into the shape of the entrance to the Anacondrai tomb. He frowned, then his eyes widened as he saw little Lloyd Garmadon sneak up to the door, look around, before opening it and going inside. "Not the Anacondrai," Wu whispered. "Lloyd, how could you be so foolish?"

But he watched as Lloyd and Pythor emerged and walked off to the left, and breathed a sigh of relief as it seemed that Pythor was the only Anacondrai to leave the tomb. "Well, I suppose a single Anacondrai isn't so bad," he dared risk a small smile, but then the Sensei's eyes were drawn to the shadows on the right side of the cave's entrance, which were forming into the shape of a serpent. The serpent of shadow suddenly reared up, and Wu gasped as the place where the snake's eyes would have been glowed a shimmering purple. "More than one?" he slowly whispered in absolute terror. "A single Anacondrai will be nearly impossible to defeat. If there are more, then," he paused, thinking through the ramifications of this event. "All of Ninjago might be doomed,"


	2. (Sometimes) Never Trust A Snake

Chapter 2: (Sometimes) Never Trust A Snake

A shadow slunk through the streets of a small village on the edge of the Endless Desert, searching for information. It narrowed it's eyes. "What'sss a newsssspaper?" the being hissed, before darting forwards, grabbing one and retreating to the quiet of a dingy alleyway. The first thing they did was look at the date printed on the paper. "Oh wow, it hasssss been a long time. But sssssseeing the ssssssun . . . . . incredible," the being smiled, before reading the paper's headline. "Mythical Menace At Large Once More? That ssssssoundssssss interesting,"

They were rapidly cut off by the sound of a bell ringing and multiple people shouting in protest, accompanied by laughter. They peered out onto the main street and cursed in annoyance. "Pythor? How did he sssssurvive? Oh dear, I might be in trouble - but why doesssssss he have a human child with him?" they moaned, staring at the ridiculous spectacle of Lloyd and Pythor skating down the street in an outsize scooter, knocking over ice-cream carts and laughing maniacally. "Hassss he gone sssssoft or something? Maybe all the yearsssss in that tomb knocked a ssssscrew loossssse in that mind of hisssss. Well, I ssssssupposssssse if it did, all the better for me and all of Ninjago," they shrugged, deciding not to dwell on it and take advantage of the distraction to make a hasty escape.

A disembodied newspaper floated through the air, unnoticed by the vast majority of the crowd, and made it's way out of the small town. "I sssssupposssse I sssshould keep an eye on Pythor. He'sss a fanatic at bessssst and a delusssional tyrant at worssst,"

They finally opened up the paper and read the article once outside the town's walls. "The Sssssserpentine? The Hypnobrai and Fangpyre? Oh jeezum. I sssssupposssse they jussst can't let go of the passst,"

X

Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys was a multi-storey, obelisk-shaped building with several pleasant balconies and terracotta tiles on the roof. It was perched atop a hill with random splotches of grass dotted across the desert.

A child dressed in a black cloak and a shirt crudely drawn rib bones on it slowly walked towards it, accompanied by a massive purple snake. "Pythor, you're brilliant. Taking revenge on the Boarding School that kicked me out because I wasn't evil enough is genius! And bound to be pretty fun too. Muhuwahahahaha!" Lloyd Garmadon cackled, and Pythor rolled his eyes. "Whatever helps you sleep at night," he hissed to himself. "Anyway. How should we storm it?" the child asked.

"I think the best thing to do is a combination of shock, awe and indimidation. Use my appearancewwwww to scare your ex-classmates into submission, take the students hostage and use them as ransom to make the teachers surrender!" Pythor maniacally grinned with glee, looking forward to how fun this was sure to be.

"I like that. That's a good plan. Glad I came up with it," Lloyd grinned, and his 'henchman' rolled his eyes in dismay. "Let's just storm the school, shall we?"

A little ways behind them, something shot from the cover of one rock to another. Pythor paused, raising his head for the briefest of instants, and narrowed his eyes. "Strange," he frowned. "Is something wrong, Pythor?" Lloyd earnestly asked. "No, young sir, don't worry. It's nothing. I just thought that I heard something,"

X

An alarm echoed through the rooms of the Destiny's Bounty, and a female voice shouted through the intercom, "Guys! We have Serpentine activity at Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys!" Nya called through the pipes.

"Darkley's?" Jay frowned as he snatched up his personal Golden Weapon, the powerful Nunchucks of Lightning, pulled his ninja mask on and rushed towards the mission briefing room. "That place is a cesspit for the malicious and misbehaved," he groaned as he met the other Ninja in the large bridge of the ship. "Be that as it may," Cole slung the Scythe of Quakes, another of the four legendary Golden Weapons, over his shoulder callously, and donned his own mask. "They still need our help," he signed. "So, how are we gonna get in there? The place is probably booby-trapped to hell and beyond," Kai groaned, brandishing the Sword of Fire, his own Golden Weapon, in irritation. Zane removed his pink apron and pulled his own white mask over his head, tucking the Shurikens of Ice, the last of the four Golden Weapons of legend, into his belt. "We will need something rather, ahem, unconventional," the White Ninja recommended.

Jay cast a passing glance at a proud framed picture of the four Ninja, Nya and Sensei Wu standing in front of the prow of the Bounty. "I think I have an idea. But you probably won't like it much," he slyly grinned.

X

"Pythor! How are the booby-traps coming?" Lloyd demanded, walking down the hallway towards his henchman. "Every door, nook and cranny is spring-loaded, master Lloyd," the Anacondrai grinned maliciously. "Perfect. How's the net cannon coming?"

"Completely ready to fire," Pythor reported. "It had better be. I want those Ninja captured," Lloyd grinned with an evil smirk. "As do i, Master Lloyd. The sooner they are out of the way, the better,"

The two comrades alighted upon the roof, nearby a long-barrelled cannon. "Ah, master Lloyd, can I point something out? Wouldn't it make more sense for the cannon to fire, ahem, cannonballs, not nets?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Pythor. I want to capture the Ninja first. That way I can lock them up snd gloat about my victory before I get rid of them," Lloyd grinned. Pythor snorted, but flinched in surprise as the boy suddenly shouted, "Look! Down there! Fire!" Not wasting a second, the Anacondrai fored the net at where Lloyd was pointing. "Did we hit anything?" the snake asked.

"Uh, Pythor?" Lloyd asked, suddenly sounding rather uncertain. "You did say that you were the only Anacondrai left, right?"

"Of course I did. Why, what is -" Pythor cut himself off in surprise at the sight of what was caught underneath the net. "Nevermind what I was saying before about the cannonballs, the nets are perfect," Pythor grinned. "Now, do you think you will be alright on your own? I would rather like to interrogate our new prisoner," the Serpentine frowned. "Go on, I'll be fine. And see if you can recruit him. I want more henchmen,"

"I am on it, Master Lloyd," Pythor snorted, heading back downstairs with a frown. "Someone has some explaining to do,"

X

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kai nervously asked in confusion. "Of course it is. Have a little faith," Jay snorted.

The four ninja were precariously clinging to the Destiny's Bounty's anchor. Even though the craft was now a flying ship, it had once been a typical seafaring vessel. And for all the modifications and additions, the machinery of the anchor was too deeply ingrained into the ship's construction to be removed. So Jay and Nya had built around it.

"I have faith alright. Faith that this is gonna kill us," Cole snorted. "That is a valid concern. Perhaps we should put more thought into the plan?" Zane suggested.

"Drop it, Nya!" Jay yelled. "On it!" Kai's sister called back, and in an instant the anchor released.

Kai and Cole screamed, Jay whooped and Zane merely eeped as the anchor dropped to the ground.

X

"You know, Pythor, I'm sure those ninja are sneaking their way in right now. We need to stay on guard. Double-check everything that moves and triple-check everything that doesn't!" Lloyd commanded. "That is a sensible precaution, but I really want to interrogate our hostage," Pythor growled.

Screaming was suddenly heard in the distance. "Uh, where's that coming from?" Lloyd frowned.

Pythor uncertainly looked up, and shouted, "Get down!"

The two leapt out of the way as the anchor of the Destiny's Bounty high above them smashed into the ceiling - and continued going, punching a hole into the top floor, which once again couldn't stop the anchor's momentum and gave way. The same thing happened to the roof of the third floor, and after a couple of moments, the floor of the third floor gave way too, dropping the four dazed ninja into the second floor. Kai moaned. "Is it over?"

Cole winced. "I hear a cracking," he warned.

Sure enough, the cast-iron anchor of the Destiny's Bounty was too heavy for the second floor to hold, and it gave way, dropping the Ninja into the bottom floor. Luckily, the solid stone foundations would not give way to the anchor, bringing their impromptu ride to a much-wanted halt.

The four ninja picked themselves up and drew their weapons. "Jay, that is the last time we are doing that. Ever!" Cole snapped.

"Well, at least we tried it," the blue ninja shrugged.

Cole looked around and spotted a group of terrified children, who had all been tied up. He pulled out his Scythe of Quakes and in fear and horror, the children reared back, expecting to be decapitated at any second.

Instead, the magical weapon sliced through the rope holding them. The children immediately separated and ran to unknown corners of the school.

Kai stepped forwards and looked towards a pair of Skeletons with large heads who were tied up and dangling from the ceiling. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Kruncha and Nuckal. Substitute teachers, eh?"

The Skeleton Army were Undead beings from the Underworld, lead by Samukai, the Skeleton King, and had once been the servants of Lord Garmadon. Once the dark overlord had escaped, and Samukai killed, the Ninja never bothered to find out what had happened to the Skeletons and the three generals of the Army and Samukai's immediate subordinates, Nuckal, Kruncha and Wyplash. It seemed that Kruncha and Nuckal had, in their desperation, accepted teaching posts at Darkley's.

"If I'm gonna cut you down, I'd better not see you showing your ugly faces around Ninjago again," Kai frowned. The two Skeletons frantically nodded and mumbled through the duct tape holding their mouths shut.

With slashes of his sword Kai cut the Skeletons free and they frantically rushed away trough the corridors. "I hope we've seen the last of them," Jay frowned.

"Uh, guys? You, ah, might want to see this," Zane called the other three Ninja over to the corner. As one, the three frowned in confusion.

Lying in the corner was a purple Serpentine, bound from head to tail and with duct tape over their mouth.

Kai and Jay immediately drew their weapons. Cole cautioned them back. "Whoa, guys, think about it. This doesn't sit right with me. Why would the Serpentine take one of their own captive?"

"He is correct. I sense something," Zane paused in his agreement with Cole. "Unusual, about this Serpentine,"

Cole reached over and pulled the duct tape from the snake's mouth. "Okay, spill it. What's the story?"

They rapidly inhaled a deep breath of air. "Oh, that feelsssss better," they sighed, before their eyes widened. "You're the ninja, right? You have to get to the roof! Pythor hasssss to be ssssstopped!" they shouted.

Jay frowned. "Who's Pythor?"

The Serpentine rolled their eyes. "Look up,"

The four ninja immediately looked up, and saw a purple, scaly face flaring down at them through the many, many holes they had punched through the building.

Cole immediately looked back to the tied-up snake - and was somewhat surprised to see that they were still there. "Half expected you to vanish on us," he commented uncertainly.

"Oh, I wish," the snake snorted. "But I can't. Now, will you continue to stand here bickering or go after that maniac?"

Cole made a snap decision. "Zane, stay here and keep an eye on our scaly little friend. See if you can get more information out of him," Zane saluted. "The rest of us'll split up and get up there," Cole instructed, grabbed hold of the anchor's chain and began shimmying his way up.

Kai rushed towards the stairs, and Jay made to follow him until he noticed something nearby. "Ooh, let's take the elevator!" he grinned. "Seriously?" Kai groaned, continuing up the stairs as the elevator doors slid open.

Cole had reached the rop of the second floor by now. "Pythor! Sandbag!" he demanded. "On it, sir!" Pythor hissed, heaving a sandbag over his head and dropping it towards Cole. "Oof!" The black ninja fell to the ground and groaned. "Again?"

"Do you have a name? I'd rather not call you 'snake'," Zane asked, doing his best to be polite. "My family called me Ssssssolo," the snake nodded. "Well, I suppose it's nice to meet you, Solo," the white ninja smiled. "Likewise," Solo did their best to nod with their neck tied to their tail. "So, what makes Pythor so dangerous?"

"He'sss a fanatic. He'sss obsssessssssed with thisss ancient prophesssy-" Solo was cut off by the Cole, who had picked himself up for the second time. "Getting anything out of him, Zane?" he asked.

"He seems quite pleasant. He hasn't even tried to withold information," Zane said and Solo snorted. "That'sss because I'm on your ssside. And I'm female, ssso quit it with the 'he' crud," she demanded. Cole gulped, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "Oh, uh, sorry," he winced and climbed back up the anchor chain.

"You're on our side?" Zane frowned. "In short, yeah. I've heard the ssstuff that the other sssnakesss are doing and, frankly, I don't agree with it. But beyond that, the enemy of my enemy isss my friend," Solo explained. "But why is this Pythor your enemy? You are both Serpentine?" the Master of Ice still didn't comprehend.

Solo positively growled at him. "That's like expecting all humansss to be perfect becaussse of you ninjasss. Look at that kid up there. There can be bad humansss, ssso why not good Ssserpentine?" she reasoned. Zane blinked. "You are correct. My deepest apologies," he bowed to show the truth of his words. Solo nodded and snorted. "Thanksss, I guessssss," she sighed.

"So, about this prophecy Pythor is obsessed with," Zane started.

X

Jay waited patiently in the elevator. "Buh-buh-buh-ba-ba-ba," the elevator music played, and the ninja of Lightning smiled. It was oddly relaxing for the standard set by Darkley's.

X

Kai rounded the corner of the stairwell and charged towards the top floor. Lloyd squeaked. "Ninja inbound!"

Pythor pulled a string and a pile of gloop fell from the ceiling, enveloping the red ninja. It rapidly solidified and trapped him. Kai then caught sight of Pythor's entire body. "That is one big snake," he winced, while struggling to get out of the gloop. "I can't move!" he protested.

The Anacondrai facepalmed and sighed. "That is the point of a trap, you know,"

X

"Buh-buh-buh-ba-ba-ba," the elevator music droned. "Ba-ba-ba-buh-buh-buh,"

Jay sleepily smiled as his head fell forwards, lulling in time to the sleepy music. His eyelids slowly slid closed as he began to fall into a relaxed slumber.

Suddenly they shot open as he remembered the situation. The blue ninja promptly pinched his own cheek to ensure he remained awake, and continued to patiently wait. Pinching his cheek every few seconds.

X

"I'll admit, I have a bit of a . . . . unique outlook on life among my fellow sssnakesss," Solo self-consciously shrugged. "I will be honest, I don't understand it. What made our ancestors seal your kind away in those tombs in the first place?" Zane questioned.

The Anacondrai shrugged. "I honessstly don't know. In Ssserpentine terms, I'm pretty young. The tomb wasss my home for my entire life until yesssterday morning,"

Zane blinked in surprise. "So until now you have never even seen the sun?"Solo nodded. "Our banissshment from the sssurface world was a taboo sssubject. No one ever told me exactly what happened," she continued. "Oh, that's . . . . horrible," Zane gulped. "You got used to it," she shrugged. "The problem was when we ran out of food,"

"Hmm," Zane thought for a second, before pulling his shurikens out and twirling them in his hands. "Uh, what are you doing?" Solo gulped, suddenly nervous.

He sliced through the ropes holding her in place, before putting his shurikens back on his belt. Solo looked over her body in shock. "Thank you, but . . . . why? I'm a sssnake?" she asked in wonder. The white ninja helped her up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're different. I can sense that. And," he suddenly took a critical look at her thin stomach and protruding ribs, "I am making you a very large meal when we return to the Bounty," he decided. "I'd like that a lot," Solo hungrily thanked him.

X

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Jay leapt out, twirling his nunchucks. He looked around. "I'm he first one up here? Elevators rule!" he fist-pumped.

"The elevator? You didn't booby-trap the elevator?!" Lloyd fumed at Pythor from the hole in the roof. "What's an elevator?" the snake asked in honest confusion.

Jay jumped through the hole and landed on the roof to confront Pythor and Lloyd. "It's bedtime, pipsqueak," he grinned. "Pythor! Protect me! I'm your master!" Lloyd demanded.

But the Anacondrai had finally had enough of the farce. "Master? Master! I am sick of this! And. I am sick of you!" he spat at Lloyd, before reaching out and snatching the Map of Dens, the ancient map that showed the locations of all five Serpentine tombs, from Lloyd's arm. "Wha?" Lloyd gasped in shock. "How could you betray me like this, Pythor?"

"Betray you? Betray you, you say? All you want to do is to make the Serpentine your slaves! But I have greater plans. So long, sucker!" Pythor snorted with an evil smirk, before vanishing into invisibility. "Wha - where'd he go?" Jay demanded. "We'll worry about him later," Cole commanded, jumping onto the roof and joining Jay in cornering Lloyd. "Uh, I'm sorry?" the child plaintively begged.

Kai climbed up onto the roof as the Destiny's Bounty docked nearby and the gangplank extended. Sensei Wu strolled down and glared at Lloyd, who cowered under his uncle's glare.

"Ooh, what should we do to him? Send him to his room? For a century?" Jay eagerly suggested.

"Put him in the corner! For a lifetime!" Cole continued the thread. "A million spankings!" Kai finished.

"Enough!" Sensei Wu interrupted him. "I know exactly what we should do. But first, where is Zane?" he frowned, looking for the Master of Ice.

"Under here!" his voice came from the hole in the roof. "Would you mind getting a ladder? Our new friend will need one," he asked. "New friend?" Sensei Wu frowned, moving to the hole in the roof and raised a curious eyebrow at Solo, who blushed and looked away self-consciously. "Don't worry, she's with me," Zane smiled.

Sensei Wu obliged and reached out his staff to lift Solo onto the roof. Zane jumped up after them.

Kai blinked. "Isn't that the Serpentine who was tied up?"

"Yeah, what is he doing here?" Jay demanded. Cole nudged him. "Uh, that he's a she, Jay," he informed his fellow ninja. "Oh yeah? How can you tell?" Jay demanded.

Cold awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "She told me," he muttered, somewhat ashamed.

"Come along, everybody. We must get back in the air," Sensei declared, walking back towards the gangplank. "That includes you," he nodded to Solo, waiting by the edge of the gangplank.

The Serpentine gratefully moved towards him, but was blocked by a rapidly warming golden blade. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," Kai decidedly snapped. "Are we really letting a Serpentine on board our ship?" he asked Sensei Wu. "Zane is willing to vouch for her. That is good enough for me. And it should be good enough for you," he told the Ninja of Fire.

Jay looked like he was going to raise his own complaint, but wisely decided to keep silent.

"Yes, Sensei," Kai sighed, moving to walk up the gangplank, but Sensei's staff immediately bopped him on the head. Cole's masked skull met the same fate as he too moved towards the ship. "What was that for?" the black ninja protested. "Today's lesson; common courtesy," Sensei Wu frowned at his pupils, before gesturing to Solo with a kindly smile. "Ladies first,"

"Uh, thanksss, I think," Solo frowned, but slithered onto the ship regardless.

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Okay, just to clarify, Pythor doesn't know what an elevator** **is because they weren't invented when he was sealed away, therefore he couldn't have booby-trapped it. Which is my personal reasoning towards why Jay didn't have to contend with any booby-traps.**

 **Nice to see Solo's getting in with the ninja. Also, if anyone's wondering, I got her name from Master Chen's saying, "Only one can remain," Only one = Solo. It also made sense since she was the only Anacondrai remaining that matched up with what Arcturus and the other original Anacondrai wanted their kind to be like. But she doesn't know that right now. :P Plus it just sounded right for the character I have planned for her. So, yeah.**

 **Guest, that's a little obvious. :P**

 **Sparkbutt, I talked to you.**

 **Yes, I respond to reviews. Peace!**

 **UPDATE: I fixed a few typos and retconned a minor plot hole. Peace!**


	3. Can Opener

Chapter 3: Can Opener

"I can't believe I'm supposed to live with a Serpentine," Kai growled to himself. "Lighten up, Solo's nice," Cole told him. "You cannot judge a book by it's cover. I sense that she has goodness within her," Zane told the Fire Ninja. "Right, right, whatever," Kai shrugged it off.

The ninja were training on the deck of the Destiny's Bounty. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Sensei Wu rebuked Kai. "Until she becomes our enemy," he snorted. "That remains to be seen. But for now, I believe that we can trust her," Sensei Wu sagely continued.

"Where is she, anyway?" Jay frowned.

X

"I sssuppossse I should know my way around here," Solo shrugged, making her way down the central corridor of the Bounty.

The Destiny's Bounty had a simple design. A long corridor stretched the entire length of the ship, with several rooms on either side. Nya's quarters consisted of a single room near the left side of the ship's prow. It was the door to this room that Solo was approaching.

The snake's forked tongue flicked out and tasted the air on instinct. "Metal and fire?" Solo frowned thoughtfully, flicking her tongue again. "Thisss ship'sss made of wood, fire could be a big problem," the Serpentine gulped. It's coming from that room," she decided, reaching out and swinging the door open.

Nya shrieked in shock. "Don't look at the robot! Or me!" she demanded.

She was holding a welding iron and standing on he shoulder of a massive robot suit that was decorated to look like a gigantic samurai. Notably, she was also wearing skintight, padded crimson and gray armor and a matching helmet adorned with golden horns.

Solo frowned in confusion. "What in the name of the Great Devourer isss that thing?" she frowned.

"The Great Devourer?" Nya repeated uncertainly. "Ssserpentine expletive, don't worry about it,"

Nya sighed. "Please don't tell the others about this," she begged. "You're Solo, right? I, uh, guess we haven't properly met. I'm Nya," Nya pulled her helmet off and jumped to the ground, taking in Solo's appearance.

Like all Anacondrai, her scales were predominantly purple. Three pink lines intertwined in a spiral pattern running down her back, and her underbelly was cool bronze, with thin, straight horizontal segments. Her fangs were two and a half inches long, polished white and matching her red eyes and black irises. Her neck was only half as long as Pythor's was, but still several times as large as most other Serpentine.

"Nice to meet you too. And I'll keep your sssecret if you tell me exactly what'sss going on," Solo countered. "Fine," the sister of Kai sighed. "I'm just sick of the boys getting all the fun. I never get to go out there and fight the Serpentine - uh, no offence," she hastily cut herself off, holding up her gloved hands out of instinct.

Solo sighed. "I'm usssed to it. Heck, maybe if I knew why they were all ssso angry at you humans I'd be on their ssside,"

"Uh, anyway," Nya decided to ignore that last comment. "This is the armor and battle suit of Samurai X, mysterious masked warrior who defends Ninjago with high-tech gadgets and science, not some crummy magical Golden Weapons or whatever. Who needs those stupid weapons anyway?" she fumed.

"Sssomeone'sss in denial," Solo muttered to herself.

"But yeah. As long as I have the big guns, I can fight the sna- uh, the, ah, them, no problemo," Nya smirked.

There was a knock on the door. Nya gulped. "Distract whoever it is! I'll hide this stuff!" she told Solo. The Anacondrai rolled her eyes and hissed, "Sssure, now I'm your accomplissse," but went towards the door. Moments before she opened the door, though, she had a thought and turned back. "How do you intend to -" she started, looking back at the mech, but was stunned to see that it had vanished. "Where did that -"

"Don't ask, just distract!" Nya snapped. Solo obligingly opened the door as Nya rushed behind a curtain to change out of the Samurai X armour.

Lloyd Garmadon, still wearing his black hood and cape, was behind the door. "Oh, it's you, Solo," he sighed. "And isss there sssomething wrong with it being me?" Solo snorted, crossing her arms.

Lloyd tried to peep past the Serpentine. "What are you doing in Nya's room? Did you do something to her?"

Solo was really starting to get irritated at the child, but Nya saved her, by shouting, "I'm fine, don't worry!"

"Are you sure you didn't hypnotise her into saying that?" Lloyd asked suspiciously. "Do I look like a Hypnobrai to you? I'm an Anacondrai and proud," Solo snapped, then paused, "though I doubt any of my ansssestorsss would be," she sighed.

Lloyd looked like he had just come up with an idea. "Okay, then. Anyways, bye now!"

The intercom crackled to life. "Can everyone please assemble on the bridge?" Sensei Wu requested.

Nya and Solo looked at each other. "Come on," Nya beckoned, acrobatically twirling around the Serpentine. Solo looked on with interest as a couple of twirling flares of crimson energy winked into existence for a brief moment around her, before vanishing as she stopped moving in that strange, rotational fashion. She opened her mouth to question it, but Nya was already rushing towards the ship's stern, so the Serpentine obligingly followed.

X

"Good, we're all here," Sensei Wu smiled, before looking directly at Solo. "We can all agree that Pythor, as Lloyd tells me that massive Anacondrai's name is," The child grinned at the mention of his name, "is our most dangerous foe. Solo," The sensei turned towards her, and she visibly flinched, "You spent years in that tomb with Pythor. Do you have any idea what he's planning?"

Solo frowned, shrinking back a little as she felt all eyes fall on her. The Serpentine thought back. "I remember he often hummed a rhyme to himself, 'When the five fangsss unite asss one, the path towardsss the Devourer hasss begun,'," she recalled.

"The five fangs," Sensei Wu repeated, stroking his beard. "That surely refers to the five tribes of Serpentine,"

"But only three of the tribes have been released," Cole put forward. "That is correct," Zane agreed. "The Constrictai and the Venomari remain sealed in their tombs,"

"So we need to get to those tombs first and make sure they stay shut," Nya surmised. "Well that's just brilliant. We have no idea where they are! For all we know, we might as well throw darts at a map!" Jay protested.

"Not necessarily. Nya, plot a course to Domu," Sensei Wu commanded. Nya frowned. "Domu? Isn't that that ancient monastery library place? Why are we going there?"

"Pythor has one copy of the Map of Dens, which shows the locations of the Serpentine tribes. Do you really think that our ancestors would be so foolish as to make only one such map?" Sensei Wu snorted.

"So there's another map that will tell us where the tombs are at this Domu place?" Cole asked for confirmation. "Almost definitely. Whether we can find it, well, that's another matter," Sensei Wu shrugged and walked towards the door.

Kai followed him, but first cast an uncomfortable glare at Solo, who sweatdropped. As Kai left, Zane placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do not worry. I sense he will warm up to you in time,"

"I hope ssso," Solo nodded.

X

"You ruined my high score!" Kai yelled at Cole. The earth ninja, though, was occupied by shouting at Jay. "Do you know how long it took me to prepare that casserole? Three days. THREE DAYS!" he raged. Jay, though, was brandishing a remote control at Zane. Notably, the blue ninja looked rather beat up. "What about don't touch my machines do you not understand? Look at what that thing did to me!" the youngest ninja glared. Zane, though, had his own problems, brandishing what looked like his ninja suit on a coathanger, with one notable difference. The uniform was bright pink. Also, Zane, unlike the other ninja, was wearing his pyjamas. "How am I supposed to look intimidating in this? IT'S PINK!" The four-way argument rapidly dissolved into a series of squabbles. "How could you?" "What made you think you had any qualifications to -" "You wanna talk about qualifications, Sparky? You are not qualified to put salt on roast chicken!" "A man's high scores are all he has!" "How can you think about high scores, you hotheaded imbecile? My uniform is pink! I will not go down in history as the pink ninja!" "Pink schmink! I wear baby blue 24/7 and it doesn't bother me! How would you like it if your training robot broke your nose?!" "To hell with your robot! No one messes with my high -" "Oh, you did not just say that about my robot!" "Don't! Cut! Me off!"

"ENOUGH," Sensei Wu interrupted them, rapping his staff against the ground. "Whatever your arguments with each other are, settle them. You four are a team," their master told them. "Did you ever even think about whether the accusations were true?" he demanded.

"With respect, Sensei, this seems extremely conclusive," Zane frowned, holding up his pink gi. "That does not mean you ought to blame each other for them," Sensei glared as Solo and Nya entered behind him. "You're right, Sensei. It was probably all her fault!" Kai glared at Solo, accusatorially pointing at the Anacondrai. Solo yelped in surprise. "What? I haven't done anything, I swear! she exclaimed. "What are we even talking about?" she added. "You know," Kai growled, but Nya stepped in. "I can vouch for her," Kai's sister told him. "She was with me all morning,"

"But she's an Anacondrai, can't she do that weird invisible teleporty thing like Pythor?" Jay pointed out. "Exactly," Kai growled. Sensei immediately stepped between him and Solo. "No. Solo had no part in this," he angrily glared at Kai. "The culprit lies over there," he pointed at a set of doors behind the ninja, which slowly slid open to reveal Lloyd grinning. "You did all this?" Cole demanded. "I put him up to this! Sensei Wu barked. "I wished to show you all the destructive power rumours possess! And," he paused awkwardly, "I, ah, misplaced my lesson book,"

Cole looked back at Lloyd and frowned, spotting something sticking out of his pocket. He walked over and snatched it from Lloyd's shorts as the child grinned nervously. "You mean this lesson book?" he suggested. Sensei's mouth opened slightly, before he sternly glared at Lloyd. "Yes. That would be the book in question," he sighed, taking his book from Cole, before glaring at Lloyd and closing the doors, locking him in the closet. A muffled "Hey! Let me out!" was heard, but everyone happily ignored him.

X

"Attention everyone, we have arrived at Domu!" Nya reported. "I will retrieve the map. Zane, I believe you would enjoy seeing the library. Please meet me at the prow so that we may depart," Sensei Wu added through the speakers. "Er, Sensei, you aren't in the control room with me, how did you . . . ." Nya trailed off in confusion. "Some secrets are best left untold,"

X

Once again, everyone was gathered in the control room. "According to the map we found at Domu," Zane read from an old-looking piece of parchment, "the tomb of the Venomari tribe is deep in the Toxic Bogs,"

"And the Constrictai tomb is at the top of the Mountain of a Million Steps," Sensei Wu continued. "The what?" Solo frowned. "It's a big mountain that looks like a dragon head," Cole told her. "Ah. We always called that the Many-Fanged Spire," the Anacondrai shrugged.

"So the solution's obvious. We split up," Nya grinned. Cole, Zane? You two go find the Constrictai. Kai and Jay, head to the Toxic Bogs and make sure that the Venomari stay locked up," she commanded. "What about me?" Lloyd raised his hand in excitement. "Stay on the ship," Sensei off-handedly told him. "I will see what I can decipher in the Spirit Smoke,"

X

The ship seemed empty and quiet without the four ninja on board, Solo reflected as she made her way down onto the main deck. Not looking where she was going, her tail accidentally knocked a small pedestal near the bottom of the stairs that had a silver dragon on it, revealing a red button. "What'sss thisss?" Solo frowned, pressing the button.

In an instant, four large pillars rose from the training course. Automated axes and swords appeared, complemented by a course comprised of logs that led between them and a larger pillar in the middle that had a training dummy and a large punching bag hanging from the Torii gate above it. "Impresssssive," she blinked.

"I had wondered if you might take an interest in the ways of the ninja," a voice came from behind her, and Solo jumped in surprise at the sight of Sensei Wu behind her, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "Sssorry, I jussst sssaw the button and wanted to know what it did and -" Solo nervously apologies, but Wu held up a hand to stop her. "This is a perfect replica of my father's training course, which he created specifically to educate people in the ways of the ancient martial art of Spinjitzu. Anyone can learn this art," The elderly man's eyes crinkled in a smile. "Even a Serpentine," He casually stepped over her tail and began to walk away, before tossing a scroll over his shoulder, which Solo caught with ease. "I found this in Domu as well. I thought you might enjoy it," the Sensei nodded.

Solo opened the scroll. "A Comprehensive Guide to the Ancient Serpentine Art of," she paused in shock. " _Fang Kwon Do_?"

X

"Wait, what happened?" Nya giggled. "He spent the entire fight curled up in a little ball, screaming about elves!" Cole laughed, patting Kai on the shoulder. "That venom appears to be extremely potent," Zane commented.

Apparently, Zane and Cole had found the Constrictai tomb opened and had to deal with a single, incredibly strong Constrictai king. Meanwhile, Kai and Jay had walked into an ambush of both Venomari and Constrictai, which had been orchestrated by Pythor, and had almost been killed. However, a mysterious armoured warrior in a massive robotic samurai suit - Solo had almost done a spit-take at this, but Nya had surreptitiously gestured not to reveal that she was Samurai X - had appeared and held off the snakes, before tranquillising the four of them. When they woke, the Serpentine were gone and the Bounty was overhead, waiting to pick them up. Unfortunately, during the battle Kai had been afflicted with Venomari hallucinogenic venom, and was imagining that everything in the vicinity was one or other of his worst nightmares. Of note, in Solo's opinion at least, was the fact that he appeared to hold a deep-set phobia of all things related to Christmas.

"Aah! A snake!" Kai shrieked, pointing at Solo. "Get it out! Get it out!" The others rolled their eyes in irritation. "We've been over this, Kai. Solo's not evil like the other snakes, she's unusual," Cole patiently explained. "And she's nicer than you usually are," Nya frowned at her brother.

"How long until this venom wears off?" Jay demanded. "Shouldn't she know?" he continued, gesturing at Solo in irritation. "It can last anywhere between five and twelve hours," she shrugged, swallowing a piece of chicken whole, bones and all, and missing the disgusted stare Jay was giving her at her eating habits.

Kai nudged Zane. "Look at Sensei's beard!" he whispered. "It's moving like snakes!"

Solo yawned, having just finished devouring an entire roast chicken. "Oh, that wasss good. Thanksss, Zane," she nodded with a slightly shy smile. "You are most welcome, my friend," he nodded. "I feel sssleepy," the snake said, staggering, before righting herself on the table. Nya stood up and wrapped her arm around Solo's shoulders. "I'll take you to your room," she offered with a smile. "I have a room?" Solo asked in equal parts drowsiness and disbelief.

A/N

A/N

 **For the record, Solo finding out about Nya being Samurai X before anyone else is in no way intended to be a stab at my character being some kind of OP goddess like some FFN authors do. I can understand no one finding out that Nya was Samurai X. I just find it so unrealistic that no one would spot a huge-ass mech on a cramped boat. Sooner or later, someone SURELY would have noticed it. This is just the first of many plot holes that I intend to fix up and I do intend to deviate a little from the TV show, as evidenced this chapter. The second one is how the ninja knew Pythor wanted to open the tombs of the Constrictai and Anacondrai. I mean, they thought all the tribes hated each other so how would they know to even bother dealing with the potential threat of them being released? I've personally fixed this by having Solo explain that she overheard Pythor talking to himself about uniting the tribes, but in canon . . . . . Yeah. Aaaaand the third is that there was only ONE Map of Dens. You'd expect the ancient people to be smart enough to make copies.**

 **Also, if anyone's wondering, the majority of snakes pronounce sounds like 'suppose' with the 'sss' hiss, 'sssuppossse' but the 'sh' sound, like 'she', doesn't get hissed. Also, words with 'x' should be hissed, like 'expletive', but I just don't know how to put that in the written word. So I'll just put the 'x' as normal and you imagine the hiss yourself. For some reason, unlike other snakes, Pythor barely hisses his 's's at all from what I've seen. Not sure why.**

 **I additionally do not take the 'fake' Anacondrai during what I now know to be the Tournament of Elements arc as being genuine representations of average Anacondrai, however I also feel that they had to have gotten some stuff right. So I kind of mixed up the designs of those fake Anacondrai and Pythor, took some 'feminine liberties' and used that to create Solo's design.**

 **Anyway. I really don't want to just rewrite everything that happens in the TV show exactly as has already been done, so anything I skip over, just assume that it happened exactly as it did in the show.**

 **And I think that covers the longest A/N I've ever done. XD Peace!**


	4. Pyre of Prejudice

Chapter 4: Pyre of Prejudice

"Ssseriousssly? I missssssed that much?" Solo questioned in disbelief.

According to Zane, the current 'Pink Ninja', while she had been asleep, all of the Serpentine had been rallying in the sewers underneath Ninjago City. The ninja had infiltrated the gathering and completely ruined any chance of unity the four Serpentine tribes had, before making a hasty escape on Zane's snowmobile. "The sssewersss? My people have sssunk to a new low if we're gathering in a massssive pit of poop," Solo sighed.

"What is more worrying is that Pythor was attempting to unite them under the cause of waking the Great Devourer," Zane told her. But at this, Solo burst out in laughter. "Bee-he-he-he-he-he! He'sss ssstill going on about that old fairy tale? The Devourer isssn't real, it'sss an old bedtime ssstory. At bessst," she chuckled. "The Constrictai definitely seemed to take it seriously, if their wall paintings were anything to judge by," Zane pointed out. "From what I heard from my ancestorsss, the Conssstrictai alwaysss had more appetite than common sssenssse," Solo snorted. "The Devourer'sss a myth, and nothing you can sssay will convinssse me otherwise," she told him. "The same was said of the four Golden Weapons, and the Serpentine themselves, and we all know how that turned out," the White ninja reasoned, absent-mindedly twirling his magical golden shirkers in his hands. Solo paused. "Good point,"

"Zane! Come on, there's a package for us!" Kai shouted, grabbing Zane's wrist and pulling at him like an excited child. "Dare I assist what it isss?" Solo frowned. "Nothing for you," the Fire ninja snorted. "Probably not," Solo nodded. "I'm going to go above deck and train," she decided, turning and moving in the opposite direction.

"Train?" Kai demanded of Zane once she was gone. "Sensei Wu is attempting to teach her Spinjitzu, and has provided her with the necessary material to master the Serpentine art of Fang Kwon Do," his brother explained. Kai groaned. "Yeah. Because we want a snake knowing how to do Spinjitzu. We might as well have Lord Garmadon living with us and learning all our secrets!" he exclaimed in anger, throwing his arms up.

Zane stared him in the eye with a quiet frown. "She is my friend,"

X

"Over the planksss," Solo twisted her tail and dodged between the planks, her lithe form narrowly avoiding the heavy pieces of wood. "Dodge the ssswordsss," she continued the mantra Cole had taught her yesterday, using her tail as a spring to jump over the swords. "What wasss the next bit?" she wondered, landing somewhat awkwardly the wrong way around, staring back at the rotating swords.

The Anacondrai was knocked to the ground, flopping onto the floor of the deck as a heavy wooden dummy crashed into her back. She breathed heavily, wincing in pain. "Oh yeah. Here comesss the dummy," Solo groaned. "Keep trying. You'll get it," Nya advised her from the top of the steps, where she was watching. "It'sss harder with a tail," Solo groaned, picking herself up as the course ground to a halt. "Thisss thing wasss built for people with legsss,"

Nya jumped down and helped her up. "I've been wondering about that. I thought only the commanders of each Serpentine tribe got the big tail, and the rest had legs. And Pythor's obviously the commander of the Anacondrai, technically speaking at least, so, uh, why do you have a tail, not legs?" she asked, nervously trying not to offend Solo. "The Anacondrai are sssupposssed to be the 'alpha race' of the Ssserpentine," Solo told her. "To emphassssissse that sssuperiority, sll Anacondrai have commander tailsss, except onesss who are being punissshed for sssomething or other," she explained. Nya paused. "Then, how do you know who the leader of the Anacondrai is, if you all have snake tails?" she asked. Solo chuckled. "Usssually, the one holding the big golden ssstaff isss the leader," she pointed out. "Oh yeah," Nya nodded with a self-decrepitating smile. "I guess that seems kinda obvious,"

The Serpentine paused. "Wait, Pythor'sss the commander becaussse he has the ssstaff . . . he could ssstrip me of my tail!" she shrieked, panicking. "Why? It's not like you're a criminal," Nya pointed out. "I betrayed my own people and sssided with their mortal enemiesss. You don't get more criminal than that," Solo reasoned.

Suddenly, Nya's bracelet started beeping. "Serpentine sighted at Mega Monster Amusement Park?" she read. "We'll have to finish this later. Samurai X at the ready!" she grinned, rushing off. "Alone again," Solo sighed, distantly hearing the sounds of the Samurai X mech taking off and aiming down to earth as she turned back to the training course.

Two minutes later, a massive spiked club whacked into her, sending her flying across the deck, and crashing into Cole and Jay on the edge of the ship.

Zane helped her up, and with an apologetic look she picked Cole and Jay up. "Sssorry,"

"Hey, no worries," Cole nodded. "Yeah. We've all been knocked around by that course," Jay agreed, then, seeming to remember who he was talking to, winced, shooting a guilty look at Kai, who frowned at him.

At that point, Solo noticed they were all wearing new gi. "Nissse outfitsss," she commented. Jay smirked and tapped the new armour on his shoulders. "Solid steel. Fangpyre teeth ain't getting through this stuff,"

"Do not become overconfident. Just because we have new outfits does not make us invincible," Zane told his teammates. "Yeah. Still, can't stop to chat. Serpentine have been sighted at Mega Monster Amusement Park," Cole explained. "That'sss bad . . . how are you planning to get there?" Solo frowned.

Jay facepalmed. "She hasn't seen the vehicles yet, has she?"

"Watch this," Cole grinned, raising his Scythe into the air. It glowed with a golden light as the ninja stood back. Solo blinked, and, when she opened her slitted red eyes, the scythe had transformed into a heavily armoured black car on the ship's deck. "See you later! Cowabunga!" Cole shouted, flooring the accelerator. Solo's eyes widened. "Wait!" she shrieked, but Cole was already gone, and the other ninja were already summoning their own vehicles. Zane looked down from his snowmobile. "What is it?"

"Isssn't it a bad idea to drive a car into mid-air?" the Anacondrai demanded. "Probably. But who cares?" Kai grinned, gunning his oversized motorbike's engines and screeching into the sky. "Hey, I got nothing to worry about!" Jay smirked, closing his blue fighter jet's cockpit and streaking into the sky. "I am aware that it may be unwise, but we must reach the amusement park and this is the fastest way," Zane told her. "I sssuppossse," Solo frowned. "Well," she looked back at the training course and how unappealing it suddenly looked. "Can you take me with you? I've never ssseen an amusssement park before!" she begged.

Zane smiled. "Very well, go ahead,"

The Serpentine grinned, showing her fangs, pulling herself onto the snowmobile's seat. Zane didn't waste a second, accelerating into mid-air, and his passenger shrieked as they left the deck of the ship.

A moment later, Sensei Wu appeared. "Solo?" He looked around. "Solo?" he asked again, before sighing. "And here I hoped she would babysit Lloyd while I went to the amusement park,"

X

Solo whooped, a noise somewhere between a hiss and a shriek as Zane accelerated. "How fassst are we going?"

"I do not know! This popsicle stand does not have a speedometer!" Zane replied, the wind whipping his words away milliseconds after the snake heard them.

She waved as Zane fault up with the other three. Kai scoffed. "You brought her?! She won't help! It'd be like bringing Lloyd to the battle! She'd probably help her cousins over us anyway!"

Solo gulped, shrinking in her seat and blushing, before turning invisible on instinct. Zane looked back in surprise, before uncertainly waving his hand. He was rewarded with a shrill squeal. "My apologies, I was making sure you had not fallen off," he awkwardly explained. The white ninja felt the end of an unseen tail wrap around his leg, but the Anacondrai remained invisible as the snowmobile sped onwards.

X

The other three caused their vehicles to turn back into weapons and landed in a skid, but Zane slowed his to a halt and looked to where he assumed Solo was. "We have to get off now," he apologetically told her. Solo became visible and nodded, "I'm ready," as Zane returned the snowmobile to it's shuriken state and they both landed on the ground.

The four ninja strutted in through the entrance of the park, with Solo nervously trailing behind them. "Alright, where's the Serpentine?" Jay smirked, twirling his nunchucks.

"Uh, guys? Why are they already tied up and beaten?" Cole frowned, pointing the Scythe of Quakes at a group of about a dozen Serpentine, who, sure enough, had been tied together with a massive piece of rope. Solo noted with surprise and concern that members of the Fangpyre, Venomari AND Constrictai were present. The only tribes not represented were Hypnobrai and Anacondrai - not unbelievable, as counting herself, there were only two Anacondrai left in the world.

"What happened?" Zane asked a passer-by. "Oh, you, like, totally missed everything. The Serpentine were destroying everything, but then this big mysterious samurai showed up and kicked all their asses! It was totally amazing," she explained.

Kai fumed as he heard a kid pass by, whining, "Don't wanna be a ninja, I wanna be a samurai!"

"SNAAAAAKE!" someone suddenly shrieked, pointing at Solo. "Get her!" someone else shouted, angrily brandishing a piece of cotton candy. "Eep! Don't hurt me!" Solo begged, instantly turning invisible again. "Hey, where'd she go?" the rapidly forming mob frowned as one.

"Uh . . Ooh! Over there, I think I saw her over there!" Jay took the initiative, pointing in the opposite direction to where Solo actually was. "Follow me!" he shouted, brandishing his nunchucks and rushing towards the rollercoaster. Eager for a manhunt, the mob followed him out of sight, leaving Mega Monster's main area empty.

Cole walked towards Solo and awkwardly began waving his arms close to the ground. "Solo? Are you still here?" he asked. Seconds later, his hand brushed against something cool, scaly and somewhat oval-shaped. Less than seconds later, his arm was slapped away and an invisible claw slapped him in the face. "Pervert!"

It took Cole a second to realise what had happened. "Oh, uh, sorry! I didn't realise that was your, uh, it is hard to tell when you're invisible, I, uh." he trailed off. "Sorry," he gulped. The purple Serpentine reappeared, her head turned down towards the ground. "Thisss ssstinksss," she sighed. "Hey, we'll figure it out. After we've taken care of the Serpentine," Solo fixed a baleful, slitted red eye on him. "The other Serpentine," Cole hastily covered up his mistake, "we can get everyone to understand that you're different, that you aren't like the other snakes. You aren't evil,"

"He is correct," Zane added, moving towards them. "I am certain that we can come up with a solution,"

"Makesss one of usss," the Anacondrai sighed.

"Hey guys! I see the Bounty!" Kai shouted from behind them. Sure enough, the great flying ship was approaching the amusement park. "Sensei, Lloyd and Nya should be on board," Cole grinned, before looking back down at his friend. "I sense that she will require some time to calm down," Zane advised. "Yeah, no kidding. Hopefully Sensei can help,"

"I'm right here," Solo pointed out. "I know," Cole nodded, wrapping his arms around her midsection and picking her up, draping her sinuous body over his shoulder, as the Bounty landed just outside the amusement park. "Little forward, given you've known me for four daysss," Solo weakly tried to joke. Her smile failed to reach her eyes. Cole reassuringly patted her lower back. "And I've been your friend for three and a half of them. Frosty, go get Jay and Kai, and tell them we're leaving. I'll take care of our purple friend," Cole commanded. "You are the boss," Zane saluted, turning and heading back into the park.

X

"Thanksss," the Anacondrai nodded, drinking a cup of tea and lying on her bed, occasionally momentarily shimmering in and out of view. "This should soothe your nerves," Sensei Wu told her, before handing her the Fang Kwon Do scroll. "Here. You should have something to read,"

Solo took one glance at the scroll. Her pupils contracted, and she savagely tore it into pieces. "I don't want anything to do with - with - them!" she spat.

Wu gently put his hand on her shoulder. "Anger is a good motivator, but do not let it consume you," he warned her. But they both turned in surprise to see Jay carrying his video game system into her room and plugging it in, with Cole lugging a spare monitor from the control room behind him. "Jay?" Solo blinked in surprise. "Figured you'd need something a little more distracting than old scrolls to cheer up, and," he paused awkwardly. "I'm sorry for being mean to you for the last couple of days. It's just," he paused again, scratching the back of his neck and looking down in embarrassment . "Been hard to get my head around the fact that there's a good snake out there,"

Solo rolled her eyes, but accepted the game controller he offered her regardless. "I think we should give her some alone time," Cole suggested, and the three humans left the room, gently closing the door.

The Serpentine cast a derisive look towards the tattered pieces of scroll on the floor, and took a moment to adjust her claws to the game controller. She shrugged as the game booted up. "Better than Fang Kwon Do,"

X

"I'm really getting sick of that Samurai. He's always getting in our way and hogging all the glory!" Kai protested. "Yeah yeah yeah, Samurai sucks," Cole waved him off. "Are you not hearing what I'm saying? Everyone's forgetting us! If we aren't careful, Fist to Face 3 will have Samurai X as a playable character!" Kai was on the verge of panicking.

"We have bigger issues than your ego," Zane frowned, stirring a pot of stew. "Like what? That snake?" he scoffed. "You're too hard on her, Kai. Give her a chance, she can be really nice," Jay told him. "Fine, whatever," Kai groaned, seeing he wouldn't get anywhere in this argument. "Still, what about the Samurai?"

"I will admit he is extremely annoying," Zane put forward. "Thanks, Frosty," Kai smiled. "I say we gang up on him! Next time he shows his faceplate, all four of us get together up and pone on him," Cole grinned.

"Yeahyeahyeah, great. Have any of you seen Nya?" Jay suddenly asked. "I haven't seen her since this morning," Cole shrugged. "Me neither," Kai frowned.

"Ah-I'll go look for her, if you guys want!" a voice suddenly interrupted. "Lloyd!" Jay smiled.

"I haven't seen Nya either," the kid told them. "I'll take a look around the ship,"

"Good idea. Nice to see you're being helpful, kid," Cole grinned, and Lloyd mock saluted. "Yes sir!"

"Kai, go keep an eye on him. It's your turn to babysit him anyway," Cole commanded. "What?" the red ninja demanded. "Better him than me," Jay mischievously shrugged. "He deserves a punishment regardless, after the way he treated Solo earlier," Zane frowned. "Then we have a majority," Cole smirked. "Kai, you're babysitting,"

"I don't need a babysitter!" Lloyd protested. "You're nine," Cole raised a knowing eyebrow. "So? Jay's only seventeen,"

"That's still a pretty big gap," the ninja of lightning pointed out.

"Fine, whatever. Come on, Kai," Lloyd groaned, walking away. The red ninja followed him, equally annoyed.

X

Solo cocked her head as someone knocked on the door, pausing the game and calling, "Come in!"

Jay poked his head in through the door. "Feeling better?"

"Yessss," the Serpentine nodded. "Thanksss for," she inarticulately gestured to the game system, "thisss," she self-consciously shrugged. "Sure," the blue ninja nodded, before pausing. "You know I want it back when you're done, right?"

Solo rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile through her fangs. There was just something about the youngest of the four ninja that rendered people unable to dislike or hold a grudge against him. He was annoying, but funny and endearing in a way that she, and everyone else she knew who also knew him, couldn't help but like. "Sssure, go ahead," she grinned. Jay took a look at the screen. "Screen left and jump on the back of the giant spider, then use it to get up to a hidden ledge. There's a collectible up there," he advised. "Thanksss," Solo nodded, executing the manoeuvre. "This is the first time you've played a video game, isn't it?"

"Sssecond. Cole showed me the basssicsss a couple of daysss ago," the Anacondrai shrugged. "Cool. Of course, if you want tips from a real pro gamer, Mr. Rocks isn't the best person to ask," Jay smirked, then frowned, remembering why he came in. "Anyway, Nya's been missing since this morning, shortly after we got back from Mega Monster. I thought you should know,"

"That'sss a problem," the Serpentine nodded, frowning. "Yeah. I mean, I know she can take care of herself, but still. Not to mention that Samurai, either! He's been badgering us all day, totally hogging the spotlight! It bugs me," Jay snorted. Solo couldn't help but chuckle. If only he knew.

She suddenly became aware of an uncomfortable cramp in the back of her tail. Solo dropped the controller and stretched, before picking herself up and carefully getting off the raised bed. "Remind me to ditch the bed and put the mattressssss on the floor," the snake resolved. "Ssstill, enough lying in bed and feeling sssorry for myssself. Ssspinjitzu won't masster itself," she smirked.

"That would be both weird and really cool," Jay commented. "Well, if you think about it, Ssspinjitzu massstering itssself would be quite a sssight to sssee," Solo nodded with a grin. "You can have your video gamesss back,"

X

"Again? Ssseriousssly?" Solo hissed as the wooden sword wielded by a training dummy poked her in the ribs. "Patience, young student," Sensei advised her from the steps of the main deck. "Getting on my nervesss," Solo hissed under her breath. "I heard that!" Sensei called. "Trust me, everyone else on this ship felt the same when they were mastering this course,"

The Anacondrai looked up, hoisting herself upright. "What doesss thisss courssse have to do with Ssspinjitzu anyway?"

"The course teaches you all you need to know to find the key to Spinjitzu within yourself," Sensei Wu explained. "And that meansss?"

"You must discover that for yourself," he sagely nodded. "Now, let us see if you can complete the course by the time I have finished my tea,"

"I do like tea," the Serpentine nodded. "Start on the count of three," Sensei commanded, and Solo readied herself. "Three," he off-handedly commented in a manner of checking the weather. Prepared for tricks such as this by being raised by snakes, Solo immediately started, and her mentor nodded in approval at how easily she responded to his attempt to catch her off guard.

She weaved through the logs and under the axes, taking advantage of her long, sinuous body to twist and dodge the blades. "Here comesss the dummy! Not today!" the Serpentine hissed, rearing up and striking on instinct. Her sharp, curved fangs decapitated the stuffed training dummy and she charged onwards, weaving through and over the third and final set of planks, ducking under a spiky club and weaving through the suspended sandbags. "How'd I do?" she breathed, looking back up at Sensei Wu, who had already finished his tea. "You could have been nicer to the training dummy," he commented, gesturing to the headless, stuffed corpse lying on the ground. "And you need to be faster. But otherwise, good job," he nodded.

It was about then the phone rang. "Hello?" the elderly man listened to the call. "Ah, hello Zane," He suddenly grew very still. "What?"

Wu listened some more. "Oh no. Be careful. Good luck," he advised, before hanging up.

"What isss it?" Solo asked in concern, and Wu looked straight at her, his face full of worry. "The Serpentine have captured Lloyd,"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Quite possibly the longest chapter I've ever written. Unfortunately, this is probably gonna be recurring that Solo stays on the ship while the ninja handle things for the extent of the Rise of the Snakes arc of the show. But it's realistic - she isn't well-enough trained to take part in missions, and the friction between her and Kai would be an issue anyway. To the point where Sensei would stop one of them from working together even if she was ready.**

 **MMM, wait and see.**

 **kame-otaku, ever consider that maybe females of the species look different?**

 **Anyways, peace!**


	5. Serpentine United

Chapter 5: Serpentine United

As soon as the four ninja returned, Cole pulled Solo aside. "Solo. What do you know about the Lost City of Ouroboros?" he demanded, clutching her shoulders. Solo blinked. What? "It'sss the ancient Ssserpentine capital city. I never sssaw it myssself, but the ssstoriesss the eldersss told me sssaid that it wasss destroyed when the Serpentine were locked underground," she explained. "Why?"

"It didn't look very destroyed when we escaped from it. Pythor must have rebuilt it or something," Cole growled. "Well, they didn't sssay dessstroyed," Solo corrected herself. "They sssaid _lost_. I thought they meant it had been annihilated, but what if it wasss jussst hidden sssomehow?"

"That would make sense," Zane commented, joining them. "Ouroboros was an architectural marvel. Surely our ancestors would not have been so barbaric as to destroy it,"

"Well, I can tell you one thing. If the Great Devourer isss real, then it'll be sssomewhere in Ouroborosss," Solo nodded, gulping.

"And the Serpentine made us fight the Samurai," Jay complained. "It was so unfair! He had the giant robot suit!"

"We did use the Tornado of Creation on him, and stole his sword," Cole pointed out. "The Tornado of Creation?" Solo frowned.

"It is the ultimate move we are capable of as a team," Zane explained.

"You know our individual Spinjitzu? Imagine what would happen if we were to unite our Spinjitzu vortexes into a massive tornado!" Jay exclaimed.

"Which we can then use to create something to help us. Heh. Remember the first time we used it?" the ninja of Earth grinned.

"The Ferris wheel?" Zane frowned. "Yeah, that," Cole confirmed.

Solo blinked. "You had a massssssive tornado that could create anything, and you made a _Ferrisss wheel_?"

"Cool, huh?" Jay grinned. "Anyway. I don't think we should feel guilty or anything. The Samurai kinda had it coming," Cole pointed out.

"Plus he did tell us to make the fake fight look real," the blue ninja pointed out. Kai looked over and agreed. "You don't get much more real than that, huh?" he nodded. "But still, maybe she -" The red ninja cut himself off, and, in the corner of the room, Nya suddenly looked like a deer caught in headlights. "I mean, he, isn't so bad. He definitely seemed to be on our side," Kai reasoned.

Solo caught his slip and narrowed her eyes. He had somehow figured out that Nya was Samurai X, but wasn't telling anyone. Why? "I need to get back to training. I'll sssee you three at dinner," she flawlessly lied, carefully dodging between Cole and Jay and going after Kai.

On the slightly damp floor of the Bounty - Zane had cleaned that morning - Solo had plenty of purchase for her sinuous tail and easily caught up with Kai. As soon as she was sure no one else was watching, she grabbed Kai's shoulder and pulled him into one of the spare rooms. "What are you -" The Serpentine shushed the Fire ninja and made sure that her manoeuvre was undetected, before turning back to Kai - and yelping in surprise at the sight that he had his hood over his face and sword in hand, ready to slash at her. "What the - pleassse don't ssswing that thing at me!" she begged in shock.

"I knew it! I knew you were just waiting for a chance to take us out!" Kai growled. "What? No! That'sss not why I brought you in here!" Solo blinked in shock. "Oh really? No witnesses, no one close enough to hear me scream, perfect situation for a murder!" Kai glared at her, pointing his sparking sword at her. "I wanted to make sssure we could talk without being overheard!" Solo protested, holding up her claws in defence. "Right," Kai snorted, but was caught off-guard by her next question. "How did you find out Nya was Sssamurai X?"

He sharply exhaled in shock. "Wait, she told you, but not me? Or anyone else?"

"She didn't intentionally tell me, I acsssidentally walked in on her while she wasss building the mech," Solo explained. "And I'm sure it was an accident," Kai rolled his eyes. "It wasss! I sssmelt fire from her welding torch and thought it might be a danger to the _wooden_ ship,"

"Right, you can 'smell' fire," Kai snorted, rolling his eyes. Squeezing the hilt of the Sword of Fire, he caused it to burst into flames. "Smell that?"

Her red eyes narrowed into slits. "I cam sssmell your disssgusssting sssocksss," Solo hissed. "That is the stench of manliness," Kai growled. "Ssspiky hair, a flaming sssword and jealousy issssuesss doesssn't make you a man, you overgrown hatchling," the Anacondrai retorted, her eyes red slits. "Oh, that's it. You listen to me, snake -"

"No, you lisssten to me! Why do you hate me ssso much? What. EXACTLY. Did I ever do to you?" Solo demanded. "Sssince I got here, you have mocked me, ssscorned me, insssulted me, and treated me like living garbage! And why? Becaussse I'm not _human_?" In her anger, she forgot the flaming sword levelled at her. Pushing herself forward by her tail, the Anacondrai slapped Kai in the face. "I'd rather be a sssnake than a human like you! You know, I alwaysss wondered why usss Ssserpentine alwaysss thought we were better than humansss. Well, if all the humansss back in the time of the sssnakesss were like you, I think we had the right of it! You're ssso ssself-righteous, ssso ssself-obsssessssssed," Solo paused and took a deep breath. The force of hissing the multiple 's' sounds in the phrase 'so self-obsessed', combined with her anger, had left her winded.

And in that moment, Kai, driven beyond reason by anger and denial, dropped his sword and, leaping forwards, flung a solid punch towards the Serpentine girl -

Only to find it blocked by a thick, heavy bamboo staff. Sensei Wu had appeared out of nowhere between Kai and Solo, wielding his staff with both hands and meeting Kai's punch square on. His jump interrupted, Kai collapsed, falling to one knee to avoid hitting the floor. Releasing the staff with one hand, Sensei dived forwards and snatched the Sword of Fire from the ground. He glared at Kai in silent fury. "I am extremely disappointed in you, Kai. You have no right to treat Solo in such a way, and I believe every word she said to you was justified. We will discuss your punishment another time, but if I hear about anything like this happening ever again, there will be severe consequences," Sensei Wu commanded. "I will not force you to apologise to Solo, as it would be pointless, since you would not mean it. But for the time being," he looked at the Sword of Fire. "This is no longer yours. I feel that I will make better use of it on my journey,"

"What?" Kai demanded. "Wait, what journey?" he frowned, processing the rest of the sentence.

"After Lloyd's capture, I decided we need help. I am going on a journey to find that help. And I believe my old weapon will serve me well on that journey," Sensei nodded, flexing the Sword of Fire in his hand. "Perfectly balanced, just as I remember," he smiled.

"Sssensssei, I'm - I'm sssorry for -' Solo started, but Wu turned in an instant and stopped her with a comforting hand on her scaled shoulder. "Do not be concerned, Solo. While you were angry, it was definitely something Kai needed to hear. I hope that he will now understand the error of his actions. Now, my dear, come with me. There is something I wish to attempt before I leave, and it will require not only your presence, but that of all four Golden Weapons," He paused with a rueful smile. "Luckily, only the weapons themselves are required, not their wielders, as 'disgusting socks' back there is unlikely to help in his current state of mind. But, if you three would be willing to accompany us to the control room, I am hopeful that we might discover something of considerable value," Sensei explained, looking over Solo's shoulder. She turned, and was shocked to discover Cole, Jay, Zane and Nya peering through the doorway. She yelped. "How long have you four been here?" the Anacondrai demanded.

"Since about 'stench of manliness'," Jay helpfully told her. Solo gulped. That meant they had witnessed her tirade about the demerits of humanity in relation to Kai, but . . . at least they had missed her admission of Samurai X's identity. She sighed. "Let'sss get this over with," following Sensei past her friends and away from the disgraced fire ninja.

X

Sensei laid out the four Golden Weapons in a square on the table. "What are you doing?" Solo frowned. "Trust me, Solo. It is better if you do not know until after it is over. The last person -" Sensei caught himself, and Solo had the distinct feeling there was something he wanted to tell her, but felt she should not know. "It does not matter. Anyway. Approach the weapons,"

Awkwardly, Solo moved forwards towards the four Golden Weapons. Cole, Zane and Jay watched with baited breath. Nya was a bit more impassive. Solo guessed her mind was still on the fact that her identity as Samurai X had nearly been revealed.

She continued to move forwards until she was centimetres away form the table. "What am I doing?" she looked back at Sensei, who sighed and shook his head. "If anything were to happen, it would have done so by now. I suppose that I was wrong, once again,"

"Wrong about what, master?" Zane tentatively asked. "An ancient prophecy says that when the prophesied Green Ninja is beholden in front of the four Golden Weapons, they will respond and signify the prophesied one's fate,"

Solo blinked. Cole had mentioned the story of the Green Ninja and how it had been turned into a contest between the four ninja a couple of days ago. "Y-you," she paused, spluttering in shock. "You thought she was the Green Ninja?" Jay demanded. Solo gestured in Jay's direction. "That," she inarticulately finished.

"While I did at first assume that it would be one of you four, I thought that Solo's unexpected arrival might have some significance beyond good fortune. I had hoped that destiny may have a hand in her appearance, signifying the most unlikely of people to be the greatest one of all," Sensei paused. "Evidently, I was mistaken. I'm sorry," he nodded to Solo. "That'sss why you didn't want to tell me what thisss wassss about, isssn't it? You didn't want me to get too excited, only to be disssssssappointed," she realised.

"Essentially, yes," he nodded. "Do not worry, though. Just because you are not the Green Ninja, does not mean that you cannot be one of us," the old man smiled.

But, behind them, while the Scythe, Sword and Shurikens were unresponsive, the Nunchuks of Lightning were quivering, glowing with a faint yellow-green energy.

Sensei retrieved the Sword of Fire. He noticed the Nunchuks' response to Solo, and froze for a second in shock and what almost seemed to be _fear_. "It can't be," he whispered.

Then the moment passed, and Wu reasserted himself. "Where are you going?" Cole asked. "A place none of you can follow,"

"Why not?" Jay frowned. "Because someone needs to deal with the Serpentine," Cole told him, but paused, noticing Solo's sad gaze. "The other Serpentine," he amended. "And we can't rely on Samurai X for that. He's unpredictable," he finished.

"All three of you must continue to practise. I am confident that, once you all discover what holds you back, you will all unlock your true potential. I wish you the best of luck in my absence," Sensei left, making for the upper deck of the ship.

Once the party was on the edge of the deck, Sensei raised the Sword of Fire. "What'sss he gonna do?" Solo whispered. Nya shushed her. The sword glowed, enveloping Sensei Wu in a shimmering light. When it cleared, he was straddling a motorbike that resembled Kai's Blade Cycle, but mostly gold with white highlights, and a little slimmer. "Could he do that with any of our weapons?!" Cole asked, suddenly surprised. "Would that be a problem?" Zane frowned.

The motorbike revved up and shot into the sky, falling down to earth and speeding away. "I hope he comes back," Cole frowned. "It's Sensei, he's, like, a bazillion years old. Of course he's gonna come back," Jay scoffed, then paused. "Right?"

"That man could rival the entire Anacondrai ruling counsssil put together in termsss of wisssdom," Solo smiled. "He'll be back,"

X

Everybody else, even Kai, who had come out of the room Solo had left him in looking almost guilty - "About time," Solo had hissed - had gone down to earth to raise awareness about the Serpentine, leaving Solo alone on board the Bounty. She would have gone with them, but Nya had worried that people would panic at the sight of an Anacondrai. So she was stuck on board the ship, throwing herself at the training course and desperately trying to unlock the 'key to Spinjitzu' that Sensei Wu had talked about.

"Okay," she told herself. "think about thisss logically. Remember the riddlesss the eldersss usssed to ssspout off," she paused and gulped, her pupils contracting, "before they all died - anyway. He sssaid it wasss the key to Ssspinjitzu. Think. What do you need a key for?"

She blinked. "To open a lock. Ssso Ssspinjitzu isss locked sssomehow. And I need to unlock it before I can become a Massster of Ssspinjitzu. Urgh, I hate riddlesss," Solo hissed in aggravation. "The key isss inssside me, and ssso the lock mussst be too. Ssso Ssspinjitzu is inssside me? Weird to think about it that way,"

 _"Anyone can learn Spinjitzu,"_ The Anacondrai suddenly heard Sensei Wu's voice inside her head. It sounded so real that she jumped and frantically looked around, half expecting the old man to be right next to her. _"Even a Serpentine,"_

"The old man had faith in me," Solo smiled through her fangs. "It'sss a nissse feeling,"

X

"Zane'sss a what?" Solo frowned, confused. "A Nindroid!" Jay screamed, incredibly excited.

The Serpentine cocked her head. "What'sss that?"

"A robot," Cole added, grinning at the smiling White Ninja. Solo was still confused. "How about just assssssume I'm from a time period where technology wasss all but nonexissstent, ssstill have trouble with the consssept that the Bounty can fly without wingsss and I have no idea what any of thosese wordsss mean, okay?" she suggested.

"A robot is an object capable of performing an action without needing a living being to tell it what to do. Like a sword that doesn't need someone holding it to be swung," Zane explained. "Ssso, like magic?" Solo suggested.

"Not really," Jay shrugged. Behind them, the Anacondrai girl noticed that Kai had opened his mouth to say something, but hastily bit it back. His shoulders slumped and he turned away.

Eventually, they managed to draw a parallel between golems, which apparently she had heard of from her ancestors back in the tomb, and robots and explain to Solo that Zane was a 'metal golem made to look like a human'. "But, long and short of it is, he unlocked his true potential!" Jay grinned. "Come with me, I will demonstrate,"

Solo followed Zane to the kitchen, while Cole and Jay went to rest after the long day. Zane promptly picked up Sensei Wu's spare teapot and poured a cup of hot tea. "Not very magical," Solo sceptically cocked her head.

Zane held his free hand about a foot underneath the cup, and the Serpentine watched, amazed, as a stream of what looked like powdered snow streamed from his hand, chilling the cup, before evaporating into nothingness. "Iced tea?" he offered with a smile.

Solo's slitted pupils were so wide that they were nearly round. "Why can't I do that?" she blinked.

"Perhaps because there are only four magical Golden Weapons?" Zane offered. "Isss your inability to recognissse rhetorical questionsss part of being a golem or jussst you?" Solo frowned. "That's debatable," Zane nonchalantly shrugged. "Nevermind,"

X

The next day dawned, bright and early, and the six inhabitants of the ship rose,merger for the new day. Solo was up bright and early, grinding away at the training course yet again. "You're up early," Cole commented with a yawn. "I'm going to massster Ssspinjitzu today, I know it!" Solo hissed, ducking under the spiked club for what felt like the thousandth time. "Spinjitzu isn't about the training course, Solo. The training course just teaches you the way to activate it. Spinjitzu only comes when you need it," Cole tried to explain.

"That doesssn't make sense," the Anacondrai girl frowned, looking up from dodging between logs. "It's how it happened for me. There I was, facing off against an army of Skeleton warriors with nothing but my scythe, and, bam, it was suddenly there," the black ninja shrugged.

"Unfortunately, we lack an army of Ssskeleton warriorsss. All we have isss thisss ssstupid training courssse," Solo hissed, glaring at the wooden posts.

"Anger is not the way of the ninja. You must be calm, and focused," Zane advised her, walking up. "You're right, you're right," Solo composed herself, pausing, closing her eyes, raising her head as high as her two-foot neck would allow - placing her shoulders on head height with the humans in the process - and breathing deep.

Within seconds, a whirling axe smacked into her naval, sending her flying across the deck. Zane winced, and Cole couldn't help but guffaw, which he hastily turned into a cough as the Anacondrai screamed in rage from halfway up the ship. "That course packs a punch," Zane winced.

"Actually, I have a theory about that," Nya commented from out of nowhere. The two ninja turned in surprise. "I've made an interesting discovery that could prove very useful,"

Cole looked between Nya and the incensed Serpentine cursing like a sailor several metres away. "As long as it doesn't involve swear words that are about eighty years out of date, I'm in,"

X

"Archaeologists unearthed this outside Jamanacai village. It's an ancient Fangpyre skeleton," Nya explained to the other five. Even Kai was present, but he wouldn't look at Solo. This suited the snake girl just fine, she didn't want to look at him either.

On the central table that no one had bothered putting back after Sensei had dragged it in two days prior, Nya had laid a large, thick skeleton that appeared to be a rather squat Serpentine. If Solo didn't know better, she would have said it was a Constrictai skeleton.

"I managed to get venom samples from the fossilised venom sacs in the fangs. The venom directly converts mammalian cells into reptilian ones, altering the being's DNA on a genetic level. According to my chemical analysis, the antivenom contained in the Fangpyre Staff isn't the only way to negate the venom's mutagenic effects," As Nya rambled, the Anacondrai tuned out, flicking her tongue into the air. That was a weird scent, she couldn't quite place it . . . pomegranates? It seemed to be coming from Jay, but that wasn't how he normally smelt . . normally, it was like metal and sparks.

"Seriously?" Cole grinned. "No way," Solo sceptically snorted. "Based on my analysis," Nya started, "if you can make someone's heart beat fast enough, it will purge the venom from their system,"

"How would we do that?" Cole frowned. "Yeah. It seems circumstantial at best," Kai frowned. Solo jumped a bit. She had gotten used to the red ninja being quiet.

Nya irritably huffed. "It's better than nothing, okay?"

Solo raised her hand, but Jay go there first, holding a bouquet of flowers. "Hey, Nya," he started. "So, do you want to go to, uh, a restaurant of something, say, on Thursday?"

Nya blinked, and Solo raised a scaled eyebrow. "Sure. Sounds fun," she smiled.

"I got you these," Jay mirrored her expression, offering her flowers, and the girl blinked, but smiled. "Aww, that's really nice," she replied, sniffing them in interest.

A large, irritated bee shot out of the bundle and dive-bombed Nya's face. "Wha - hey!" Jay shouted, shooting a palm out to swat the bee away.

The bee dodged and Jay's palm strike hit Nya in the nose. He gasped. "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!"

Nya carefully rubbed her nose, holding her other arm in front of her face in defence. "It's fine, it's fine - I'm just gonna go wash up," she responded, turning and dashing away.

Jay sighed, turning around. He started a little, seeing Solo directly behind him, before relaxing. "Sorry," he nervously chuckled. "Still kinda getting used to the fact that there's a friendly Serpentine on board the ship,"

Solo folded her arms in irritation. "It'sss not that difficult a consssept,"

"Yeah . . what do you think?" Jay asked. "I know you and Nya get along well, as, the, only girls on board, heh,"

The snake slowly blinked. "Are you asssking me for relationsship advisse?"

"I guess so," the ninja nodded.

She shrugged. "Ssserpentine have an old sssaying. Sssnakesss can't change their ssscalesss, no matter how much they shed,"

"I'm not a snake," Jay pointed out, and the Anacondrai rolled her eyes. "That'sss not the point. Point isss, you can give her flowersss, reek of pomegranatesss -" She licked at the air again and shivered. "Ssseriously, what were you thinking with that one? But the point is, you're ssstill going to be you no matter how you act, ssso don't fight it. Embrassse it, and you'll figure it out,"

The blue ninja paused. "But what if myself isn't enough?"

Solo paused, and shrugged. "It'sss not like Nya'sss the only human female out there," She trailed off, realising how ironic the sentence was in her case.

Jay nodded, turning back. "Thanks, I guess," he commented.

The Anacondrai shot him a fanged grin, before turning away as he walked back around the table, swaying his arms as he walked.

She paused, hearing a muffled "Ow!" But it was rapidly followed by a "Don't worry, I'm fine! Just tripped!" and she nodded, content with that, exiting the cockpit and returning to the training course.

X

The Serpentine sighed as she folded her tail up beneath the table, waiting for the ninja to return from the latest Serpentine incursion, so that Zane could make dinner. "Maybe I should learn to cook for myssself?" she wondered, but cut herself off as the doors swung open.

She was immediately hugged by the blue ninja. "Solo! You were right! I just had to act like myself!"

A cough sounded from beside her, and Jay rapidly let go, sheepishly looking at Nya. "Sorry,"

"Relacsss. You aren't my type," the snake chuckled as the ninja sat down around her. "You have no idea how ironic that sentiment is," Jay told her.

Cole looked fit to burst. "Solo, you won't believe this! Nya is Samurai X!"

"Oh! Uh, really? Wow, who'd have thought?" she blinked in 'shock'. Her less-than-stellar performance convinced no one. "She totally knew, didn't she?" the black ninja sighed.

"Seriously? Was I the only one who didn't know?" Jay blinked.

"I was unaware," Zane volunteered as he retreated into the kitchen.

X

Once again, the sun was barely peeking over the horizon as Solo started working on the training course again. "Over the planksss, dodge the ssswords, here comesss the dummy," she repeated the mantra to herself, flicking her tail and launching herself between planks.

But she paused, looking around as footsteps approached. It wasn't uncommon for Zane to come on deck and meditate during the early hours of the morning, so she thought nothing of it - until a familiar acrid taste of burnt wood touched her tongue.

On instinct, she turned invisible, purple scales fading into nothingness. For a second, the three-colour pattern on her back twisted as she continued the course, until it vanished too.

Kai looked around, frowning. "Weird. I thought Solo would be here by now,"

The Serpentine silently leapt off the course and landed on the deck rail of the ship, wrapping her tail around it for purchase on instinct and twisting the strong muscles in her tail to remain upright. Had anyone been capable of seeing her, the effect would have been that she resembled a genie rising from beneath the deck.

"And the training course is on," Kai frowned. "Could she be in the toilet or something?"

The ninja paused, hearing a faint noise. "Eh, probably nothing," he shrugged, throwing himself into the course.

Solo stayed perfectly still, listening. Anger still burned within her at the way the red ninja had treated her, but Jay had once had a similar opinion. And he had come around, so Kai could too, right?

Her ears caught something. "Stupid snake," Kai growled. "Who does she think she is? She doesn't have any right to just barge in here and act like she owns the place," he told himself.

The Anacondrai's pupils contracted in anger, not even realising that Kai was trying to convince himself as much as he was anyone else.

Wrong.

She hissed, a noise so high-pitched that human ears could barely hear it, pushed herself back onto the deck proper, and manoeuvred herself to the training course controls.

Kai prepared to dodge the spiked metal ball that came swinging towards him - until it stopped, and began to turn in the other direction. "Huh?"

An insulated bag swung in an arc, lazily gaining speed, and smashed into him from behind, sending him sprawling towards the planks with randomised elevation.

At least, they had random elevation, until every single one raised into the air to their maximum height and began smashing against the floor like hammers. "What the - hey!" Kai demanded, frantically rolling and dodging the logs.

Solo chuckled and returned to the lower deck, remembering what Zane and Cole had told her about the course. You could run through it as much as you wanted, but the point was to memorise the movements. Once that had happened, you just had to wait for the key to be ready to be found.

She had the movements memorised. So all she had to do was wait.

In the meantime, the snake though about what the boys had relayed to her about yesterday's events. Her thoughts kept looping back to one thing; the mythical Fang Blades were real. That essentially meant that the Great Devourer itself was almost guaranteed to be real.

That meant they were in deep doo-doo. "Brilliant," she softly hissed. "Jay'sss rubbing off on me,"

There was a commotion upstairs, and she got back up to the main room, looking around. Kai was off sulking, most likely, but the other four were crowded around Cole . . . who was holding a poster that depicted a trophy. A trophy that had what looked suspiciously like a Fang Blade sticking out of it. "Why is there a Fang Bpade in that trophy?" Jay questioned.

"I knew I'd seen that blade somewhere before. It's the Blade Cup! A trophy that was created from an ancient weapon by this mysterious guy named Dutch . . . no, Clutch. Clutch Powers," Cole explained.

"And you know where to find it?" Nya asked, and Cole nodded. "My dad's won it three years in a row. He'll have it,"

"For once, it appears we have the upper hand over the Serpentine," Zane observed, a smile creeping across his synthetic lips. "We should go at once,"

"I'm ssstaying on the sship again, aren't I?" Solo shrugged.

"It's probably for the best," the black ninja nodded, grimacing. "Don't worry, it shouldn't take long, but there is one thing you all should know," he paused. "My dad's a blacksmith,"

"So, it's a weapons-making contest?" Jay nodded.

"What's so bad about that? My dad's a blacksmith," the black-haired girl frowned.

"No, he's a, er," He paused, unsure how to say it. "Royal Blacksmith. Like, the dance group,"

Solo knew she shouldn't laugh. It really was a serious matter.

The Anacondrai fell over in hysteria. "Ssseriousssly? A dancer?"

"You don't have to rub it in," Cole grumbled.

X

"Another lonely day on the Bounty," Solo sighed, passing down the corridor. "Maybe I should get a hobby?"

"I might be able to help you there," a voice offered, and Solo was surprised to see Nya's head poking out of her door. "The boys don't need me to go pick up a trophy. So I figured I might as well keep you company,"

A smile crossed the Serpentine's lips. "Thanksss,"

"Plus, I think I've got an idea for a hobby for you," the samurai smirked.

X

"Everyone except me has unlocked their full potential!" Kai's rant was Solo's first clue that something good had happened.

She got the full story over dinner. "I still can't believe you never told your dad you were a ninja," Jay told his teammate.

"Maybe not my smartest move," Cole admitted. "But I'm glad I figured it out,"

The Serpentine swallowed a chunk of lamb. "Well, that'sss good," she agreed.

As one, they looked up at a commotion downstairs. "Was that Kai?" Zane frowned. The red ninja was notably absent from the table.

"I'll check," Nya grumbled, standing up and leaving the room. After a few moments, her voice called back up to them. "Guys? You've gonna want to see this,"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Can anyone guess what Sensei Wu wanted to tell Solo but didn't think she should know? Hint; it's related to the Nunchuks' reaction to her.**

 **Anyway. This time, it is officially declared that Solo is NOT the green ninja. Despite what some reviewers thought. And kinda skipped over the episodes where Zane, Jay and Cole unlock their full potential, because there wasn't much our Serpentine could do about that. She'll get a little more involved in the last few eps of the season.**

 **Also, this chapter beats out the last one in terms of length! Woo!**

 **Plus, I'm not dead and intend to revive this fic. :) Hopefully. Wish me luck! Peace!**


	6. True Potential

Chapter 6: True Potential

The ninja rushed out of the dinner room and onto the main deck. "Sensei!" Solo smiled at the sight of the wizened old man. She paused, seeing another person behind him . . a person with black skin, a helmet with a bone set into it and, most disturbingly of all, four arms.

"Who'sss the goth freak show?" the Anacondrai whispered to Jay, who was closest to her. He chuckled at his description of the man, before shaking his head and glaring. "Remember those stories we told you about Lord Garmadon?" he frowned.

"Yesss?" Solo raised an eyebrow.

"That's him," the blue ninja informed her.

"What?" She looked between the man and her friend for a few seconds, before whispering, "You never mentioned he had four armsss!"

"Because he didn't," Cole frowned, brandishing the scythe. "Sensei! Look out!" he barked. "Lord Garmadon is -"

"Our ally. For the time being, at least," Sensei informed his students.

"Say what you want about me. It's probably true," Garmadon admitted. "But I care about Lloyd more than I despise you four - er, five?" he corrected himself, spotting Nya, then his eyes squinted and picked out Solo's purple scales against the darkness of the evening. "Six? And you're hardly in a position to discuss working with the enemy when you rub shoulders with a Serpentine," he frowned.

"That's different," Jay frowned. "Solo's our friend. She never tried to kill us, or steal the Golden Weapons,"

"Yet," Kai rolled his eyes.

"I'll keep that in mind," Garmadon nodded, intrigued.

"My brother is going to be staying with us until Lloyd can be rescued. He is going to be our ally,"

The majority of the ninja looked decidedly iffy about this, so the Anacondrai stepped up to the plate, pushing past Cole and extending a claw to the dark lord. "Hello, I'm Sssolo. Nice to meet you . . I guessss,"

Lord Garmadon was unimpressed, ignoring her outstretched hand and pushing past. "Where are my quarters?" he huffed.

"Forgive his rudeness, my dear," Sensei advised the Serpentine. "Your kind kidnapped his son, he is understandably less than happy about working with you,"

"I ssstill don't get why they're ssso angry," she commented. "What did the Serpentine even do that warranted being locked up in those tombsss in the firssst plassse?"

Sensei looked decidedly awkward. "The past is the past. It cannot be changed, and the children should not be held accountable for their parents' mistakes,"

"Like Lloyd and Garmadon?" Solo realised.

"And you and your kin," Sensei Wu nodded. "Now, if you don't mind, I am dying for a nice cup of tea," And with that, he walked away before Solo could ask what he meant.

Kai was grumbling, but for once the others seemed to agree with him. No one was ecstatic about sharing the ship with Lord Garmadon.

"Shall we return to our dinner?" Zane offered.

X

The next day dawned late. When she went above decks for her morning workout, Solo took one taste of the air and smelt rain and lightning.

"There'sss going to be a thunderssstorm today," she informed the humans over breakfast. "How can you tell?" Zane asked, intrigued.

"Ssscentsss in the air. Everything hasss one, even all of you," she explained.

"So that's what you meant by smelling Kai's socks," Jay realised. "Huh. I thought his socks just reeked that bad,"

"Ooh, what do I smell like?" Cole grinned. Solo licked at the air, smacking her scaled lips. "Kind of earthy, sandy . . ." She wrinkled her nose. "Is that a faint hint of prunes?"

The black ninja blinked, gulping.

"So that's the secret to your deodorant!" Kai crowed. "Prunes!"

Slowly, everyone turned to look at him. It was the first time the red ninja had said anything at a mealtime gathering for days. Kai gulped at the sudden attention.

"So, he can speak after all," Nya joked, and with that, the tension was shattered.

"Can you still smell his socks?" Jay asked the Serpentine with a wide grin. Kai smirked. "Today, I came prepared,"

"He'sss right. He'sss not wearing sssocksss," Solo nodded, and the red ninja triumphantly smirked. "I mean, hisss armpitsss are even worssse, but I'll give him credit on the sssock thing," she chuckled.

Everyone cracked up. Kai huffed, but he couldn't prevent a grudging smile from crossing his face.

"So. Lord Garmadon's living with us," Nya shook her head. "It's crazy. How's he going to help Lloyd?" Kai sighed.

"Yeah, and even if he can, we can't trust him," Jay agreed.

Everyone looked over as the door swung open, and the black-skinned warlord cheerfully strolled through the room, carrying a plate of black gunk in two of his four arms, and exited through the other door.

Solo retched, shaking her head as though she was trying to expel her brain from her skull. "What wasss that stuff? It sssmelt . ." She coughed, rubbing her tongue.

"Concentrated evil," Zane told her. "Apparently, it is high in fibre,"

"High in disgusting, more like," Kai glowered.

"Can't believe I'm sssaying thisss, but I agree with sssparky over there," the Anacondrai nodded, weakly pushing her plate away.

Zane and Nya looked at each other and smiled.

"Never thought I'd say this, snake, but I think I've found an ally I trust less than I trust you," Kai snorted, but with a genuine smile.

"And I think I've found a human who sssmellsss worssse than you," Solo retorted. She stood up, still running a claw up and down her tongue. "I've lossst my appetite. Sssee you all later,"

As,the others finished breakfast, Nya grinned. "Well, Zane, it looks like we've found the one thing that Kai and Solo needed to get along with each other,"

"Yes," the Nindroid agreed. "A common enemy,"

X

"So, Solo. How has your mastery of the training course developed?" Sensei Wu asked his student.

"Zane told me that it wassssn't about finishing the courssse," Solo admitted. "It'sss about memorisssing the movementsss, and I've done that,"

"Very good," Sensei nodded in approval. "But can you do them fast enough?"

"Huh?" the Anacondrai frowned as Sensei led her up to the deck. He activated the training course, and, seemingly from nowhere, produced his teapot. "Can you finish it by the time that I have finished my tea?"

"Alright," Solo nodded, taking her position.

"Begin," Sensei commanded her, and she flung herself forwards, dodging between the twirling blades of the first post, before leaping between the wooden staves and shoving past the dummy on the second stand - "Time's up," Sensei called.

"What?" the Serpentine blinked, looking over at the Master of Spinjitzu and seeing that he had indeed finished his tea. "Do you wish to try again?"

Solo nodded, extricating herself from the training course and returning to the starting position. As she skirted the edges of the posts, the door to below decks swung open and Kai emerged. She frowned as they passed each other, but as they did, he whispered, "The goal is to complete it before he finishes his tea. So, make sure that he can't,"

Kai of all people, giving her advice? Maybe there was hope after all. As Solo took her position, she flexed her tail, testing its reach.

"Begin," Sensei nonchalantly commanded, pouring a cup of hot water - and blinked in shock as a long, purple tail adorned with a three-stripe pattern caught his teapot's spout and snatched it out of his hands, bracing and shivering as heated liquid met cold-blooded scales. Having done that, Solo completed the course with ease, all the while clinging to the teapot with the (slightly scalded) end of her sinuous, flexible tail.

As she leapt out of the last post, the Anacondrai twisted her tail around, bringing it up to her mouth, and cheekily took a drought from its curved spout. She smirked, enjoying the lukewarm remains. "Good tea,"

The wizened old man nodded in approval. "Well done,"

A few raindrops spattered into the empty pot, and Solo shivered as several more hit her back. Sensei looked up at the brewing clouds, and frowned. "Perhaps we ought to go inside,"

"Yeah. I sssmell lightning," his student nodded, and both retreated indoors.

As they did, Solo passed Lord Garmadon, who, for some obtuse reason, was carrying a deck-chair and wearing a pair of sunglasses. Solo watched in confusion as he went on deck and set up the chair. "What'sss he doing?" she whispered to his brother.

"I believe that he is _sunbathing_ ," Sensei Wu informed her, looking more than a little disturbed.

X

"You're going down, snake girl! The master of lightning is undefeated!" Jay crowed, dealing a stunning blow to Solo.

"In your dreamsss!" Solo hissed, savagely retaliating, leaping forwards and bringing her sword down on Jay's head.

"Nooooo!" the ninja shrieked as he died.

In massive, blinking letters, ' **GAME OVER** ' flashed on the screen. Solo whooped, dropping the video game controller and flicking her tail triumphantly. Jay snorted, folding his arms. "I was going easy on you,"

"Keep telling yourssself that," the Anacondrai snorted. "Rematch?"

The intercom crackled above them. "Everyone to the bridge!" Nya commanded.

"Everyone, to the bridge! Zane's falcon found the Serpentine!" Nya's voice echoed through the intercom. Solo sat bolt upright, hissing softly. "The rematch will have to wait,"

The eight inhabitants of the ship gathered in the bridge, everyone giving Lord Garmadon a wide berth. Zane protectively clutched his shurikens, eyeing the dark lord.

Nya tapped a button, and a bird's-eye view of the Serpentine appeared on the screen, marching through the forest.

"I know that place," Kai frowned. "That's right near the Temple of Fire!"

"The what?" Solo blinked.

Cole rapidly summarised the events of several months ago, when Kai had retrieved the Sword of Fire and rescued Nya from Lord Garmadon's shadow. Solo nodded in understanding, and Nya huffed. She didn't much like to remember that time.

"Well, according to my scans, after retrieving the Sword of Fire, the volcano that the temple is built atop has become unstable," Zane explained.

"And the Serpentine's interest indicates that in addition to it being the former resting place of my old Sword, a Fang Blade was hidden there," Sensei Wu added.

"So, we have to fight the Serpentine for a Fang Blade in the gut of a volcano that could explode at any moment," Cole surmised.

Jay sighed. "Great, and I was just starting to feel good about this,"

"Which makes it imperative that none of you use the elemental powers of your weapons on this mission," Lord Garmadon commanded.

"What?" the ninja demanded in unison.

Their Sensei nodded. "My brother is correct. With the instability of the volcano, using your weapons as anything but weapons could cause it to spontaneously erupt," Wu explained. "It's too dangerous,"

"I understand," Zane nodded.

"Fine," Jay sighed.

Cole nodded, and Kai shrugged. "Not like that matters for me,"

The Senaei blinked. "You are correct," Reaching behind him, he unsheathed the Sword of Fire and offered it to the red ninja. "You are going to need this,"

Kai blinked, looking at the sword. "Really?"

"Prove to me that you are worthy of using it once more, and the answer to that question is yes," Sensei nodded.

"Thanks," he smiled, clutching the weapon, before sliding it into the sheath in his back, where it joined the steel katana he had been using in luau of his Golden Weapon. "I won't let you down,"

"We're here," Nya declared as the Destiny's Bounty slowed to a halt, hovering over the forests outside the Temple. "Everyone, get moving,"

Solo sighed and made to leave, in the opposite direction to the rushing ninja. Sensei Wu frowned and stopped her. "Where are you going?"

"I know the drill. I ssstay on the ship while the boysss go fight my kin," Solo shook her head.

"Would you be willing to fight your kind?" the man gently asked. She paused, and nodded. "Yeah. I would,"

"Then let's go," the man smiled, opening a cupboard and revealing a rack full of weapons. "Would you like to take a weapon?"

Solo paused, and nodded. "Yeah, I would. But not from here," A smile crept through her fangs. "I'll be right back,"

X

The Bounty landed, and the four ninja, accompanied by Nya in her Samurai X armour and the elderly brothers, disembarked. Nya had foregone her mech, simply using the under-armour and the swords and S-shaped throwing stars that she wielded as Samurai X. Sensei Wu carried his bamboo staff, and Lord Garmadon, disturbingly, carried a silver weapon in each of his four hands; a sword, a scythe, a set of nunchucks, and a shruiken.

"Where'd Solo go?" Jay frowned.

"Here," a familiar voice hissed, and Solo dropped from the deck. Nya smiled.

She was wearing a leather harness, with a pair of swords mounted on her back in silver harness, and sleek leather covered her arms, with silver epaulets that perfectly matched the ones worn by Cole and Jay. Her chest was bare, exposing her bronze underbelly, and a silver helmet with ridges on the back covered the back of her head. The effect was that she was seemingly wearing similar armour to that of the ninja.

Solo smiled, baring fangs, and brandished a polished steel staff. "Time to tessst the new armour,"

Sensei Wu nodded in approval. Cole, Jay and Kai's jaws dropped. "How come she gets fancy armour?" Jay demanded.

"Because she stayed on the ship with me enough that I had the time to make it," Nya grinned through her helmet. "Besides, this is a prototype,"

"The giant robot isss ssstill in the worksss," Solo smirked.

"She's joking, right?" Jay asked, nervously chuckling.

"Let's go," Lord Garmadon declared. "They may have already found the Fang Blade,"

The group set off. Kai kept a careful eye on Lord Garmadon. "You can stop looking at me like that. My goal is to remake the world in my image, and I can't do that if it gets eaten by a giant snake first," the

"I still don't trust you," Kai snorted.

As they passed under the large gate to the courtyard, all eight readied their weapons. "It's quiet," Nya frowned. "Too quiet,"

An echoing, vaguely British shriek echoed from the inner sanctum of the Temple. "DIG, YOU INSUFFERABLE BUFFONS!" Pythor's voice shrieked.

"Not too quiet," Cole smiled. "Come on!"

Kai shivered as they passed a familiar pool of lava. "Good times," Lord Garmadon smiled as he reflected.

Carefully, they passed through the skull-like gate at the back of the chamber and emerged into the centre of the volcano.

Almost two dozen Serpentine of varying tribes were digging in the inner sanctum, which contained several pillars of brimstone, towering above a pool of lava, connected by several makeshift wooden bridges. Pythor was atop the panel closest to the centre, and was brandishing the golden staff that denoted him as General of the Anacondrai, and King of the Snakes. In the corner, two Fangpyre tribespeople guarded a skeletal cage containing Lloyd Garmadon. The boy looked up in excitement as the ninja and co. entered the room, and Pythor turned in surprise, which rapidly changed to rage. "Ninja! Everyone, prepare for combat! And find that Fang Blade!" he barked.

"Brother, you and I shall retrieve Lloyd. The rest of you, find the Fang Blade," Sensei Wu commanded, guiding his brother along a passage set into the side of the cavern. The others split up, Jay leaping overhead to the nearest pillar. Zane followed suit, while Cole and Solo made a break for the nearby bridge, and Kai followed the elderly brothers. Nya hung back, watching for when she was needed.

Solo and Cole split up, and her steel pole immediately met the rusted sword of a Fangpyre warrior. "Oh, look. The traitorous little hatchling," he spat as Solo knocked him back.

"Why? What do the humansss offer you that makesss it worth turning on your own kin?!" a Hypnobrai demanded, swinging an axe at her that clanged off her shoulder armour, before she knocked him off his feet with her tail.

"Nothing," Solo retorted as her Fangpyre assailant renewed his assault. "I just don't believe that we should fight the humans at all,"

"How can you sssay that?" her blue-scaled cousin demanded. "After what they did to usss?"

Solo paused. There it was again, that hint that there was some missing part of the puzzle. Why _did_ humans and Serpentine hate each other? "What did they do to us?" she asked, facing the Hypnobrai.

"Well, you see, it'sss really quite simple. Jussst look into my eyessss, and I'll explain everything," he softly hissed, fixing her with an alluring gaze. Solo blinked as her thought processes slowed down, being overridden by that hypnotic gaze -

A flash of blue suddenly knocked the enemy Serpentine away, and he fell screaming into the lava. Then Jay was in front of her, shaking her by the shoulders and staring into her red irises. "Stay with me, Solo. Don't let them trick you,"

The Anacondrai shook her head, clearing her mind of the hypnotic fog. "Right. Thanksss," she smiled, turning to the Fangpyre. "I jussst remembered why I fight with the humansss," Solo narrowed her eyes as her pupils shrunk to vertical slits, raising her staff. "It'sss becaussse you can _never_ trussst a sssnake!" With that, she delivered a smashing blow that knocked him clear across the cavern.

She turned, and the Ninja of Lightning smiled at her. "Well, I'm glad we've found the one exception to that rule," he grinned through his mask.

"Thanksss," Solo smiled, touched, before turning and dashing down the nearest bridge.

"Yes! We've found it!" Pythor's voice shrieked from across the room. Solo looked up in shock as her general reverently lifted a red-tinged blade out of the ground and lifted it into the air.

"Ninja GO!" Kai shouted, and a tornado of flaming energy leapt through the air and snatched the blade out of the tall Serpentine's hands. "Not on my watch, snake!" he shouted, brandishing the Sword of Fire in one hand and the Fang Blade in the other.

A black-scaled tail yanked him off his feet, and the Constrictai General, Skalidor, crowed as he took the Fang Blade from Kai's grip and strangled him in his tail. "Throw it!" Pythor commanded, and the great black snake obligingly tossed the blade into the air, where it spun end over end towards the two Fangpyre soldiers guarding Lloyd Garmadon. One of them caught it with a smile.

Seconds later, Lord Garmadon ploughed into them, brandishing his assortment of weapons, and knocked them away, Sensei Wu darting in and retrieving the weapon. Pythor hissed in anger and slowly melted away into nothingness.

Solo squinted. A skilled Anacondrai wasn't only able to turn invisible, they were capable of teleportation. She had never picked it up, but Pythor was advanced. "Everyone! Be on guard! Pythor could be anywhere!"

Lord Garmadon took his sword and cut Lloyd free of the cage. "Dad?" the boy asked in excitement.

Behind them, an invisible hand snatched the Fang Blade away from Sensei Wu, and Pythor rematerialised. "Not quite, my boy," he smirked.

"Wrong again!" Kai shouted, wriggling free of Skalidor's clutches as Cole distracted the burly Serpentine, and pointing his sword at Pythor. Flickering plumes of flame swirled around his Golden Weapon, and a blast of heated energy flew across the room, smashing into Pythor. "No!" Sensei Wu shouted as the Fang Blade fell from the male snake's grip, glanced off the edge of the ridge he stood on and fell towards the lava. The Anacondrai gasped, glaring at the ninja of fire.

Every eye watched as the blade fell - and landed on a tiny ridge less than a foot above the surface of the lava. Suddenly, the entire chamber quaked. "Kai! What have you done?" Sensei Wu demanded.

"Everyone! To the exit, now!" Zane commanded, flipping between pillars. Wu and Garmadon shoved past Pythor, Garmadon leading Lloyd by the hand as they made their way back to the exit.

The Anacondrai's red eyes slitted in fury, and his long tail uncurled, wrapping around Lloyd's leg. "Wha - hey!" the boy gasped as Pythor pulled him away from his father, and, with an inconsiderate flick, tossed him over the edge.

"You snake!" Garmadon spat - and his brother pulled him back as a large rock fell from the ceiling and smashed into the path, tearing a chunk out of the aisle. A pair of Constrictai soldiers emerged from the wall and snatched Pythor's arms, pulling him into their burrows. "So long," the Serpentine smirked as he vanished.

Lloyd landed on the same ledge as where the Fang Blade had fallen. "Okay," the boy breathed, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He picked up the dagger, and, carefully looking around, leapt to the nearest chunk of rock.

The Ninja regrouped by the entrance as, systematically, the Constrictai removed all the surviving Serpentine from the tomb, until Solo was the only snake left in the room. The Anacondrai carefully crossed a bridge - but the pillar she had been standing on seconds earlier shook and fell sideways, collapsing into the magma. The bridge was pulled away and tore, and she frantically clutched at a loose strand of rope.

"Solo!" Kai gasped, dashing over to the edge where she hung, being the only one close enough to do anything. He crouched and stared at her, pausing. "Help," she whispered.

The red ninja shook his head and snatched her cool, scaly wrist, and in that moment, all his prejudice, all his anger, all his disgust at the thought of having a Serpentine on the team - it vanished. He heaved her to safety on one of the sole surviving pillars, and the Anacondrai sighed with relief as she righted herself. She stared at Kai in surprise and gratitude. "Thanksss," Solo hissed.

Meanwhile, the end of the falling tower smashed into the chunk of rock Lloyd balanced on, causing him to lose his balance as the brimstone slab split in two, and the Fang Blade fell out of his grip. The boy frantically clutched at one of the shards of pillar, desperately remaining abreast of the lava.

The remaining three ninja, Nya, Wu and Garmadon had gathered at the entrance. They watched, helpless, as the pillar that Solo and Kai stood atop hovered and began to collapse. Kai noticed before Solo did, and, bodily lifting the snake girl, he threw her into the air, where she landed just shy of the edge of safety.

Cole grabbed her claw and pulled her in close, heaving her over the lip. Solo stared at him in surprise, red eyes meeting black-flecked brown up close. "Hi," she breathed. "Hey," the black ninja responded.

Meanwhile, Kai had landed on a nugget of rock floating in the lava. The Fang Blade was inches away, and he could reach it! "Come on, come on, just a little more," the red ninja begged, arm outstretched.

A shrill voice interrupted his focus. "Kai!" Lloyd shrieked from halfway across the chamber. The boy was perched on a slowly-sinking chunk of rock, and steadily growing more and more panicked.

"Lloyd!" Garmadon shouted in fear. The rock face that the rest of the group perched upon slowly crumbled, and they were forced to back away for fear of falling into the lava.

Kai looked at Lloyd. His gaze returned to the Fang Blade. Lloyd. Fang Blade. Lloyd. Fang Blade. Lloyd-Fang Blade-Lloyd-Fang BladeLloydfangbladelloydfangbladelloyd

With a sickening crack, the archway that the rest of the group was standing beneath collapsed, dumping dozens of tons of rock into the area and separating the group from Kai and Lloyd. "Everyone! Back to the Bounty!" Sensei Wu shouted, and the group dashed back around the bubbling pool of lava, exiting the Temple of Fire as quickly as their legs and tail could carry them.

Garmadon paused by the temple gate and loozed back, shouting with his arm outstretched; "My son!" But then everyone was back aboard the Bounty, gasping for breath, and someone, probably Nya, had lifted the ship into the air to keep it clear of the erupting volcano.

The team gathered on the edge of the ship, gazing back at the temple. "Kai," Cole moaned. "Lloyd," Sensei Wu shook his head.

"Everybody, you might want to look up," Zane suggested, pointing to a speck of orange ought that arched high above the volcano.

"It's gonna hit us! Take cover!" Jay shrieked, dashing backwards. But he stopped as the ball of fire resolved into a familiar shape.

Kai landed on the deck, his body glowing with fire, and clutching Lloyd in his arms. Everyone gasped as the lights flickered and died, and he released the boy.

"What happened? How did you do that?" Cole demanded, excited.

"He unlocked his true potential," Sensei Wu realised. "But how?"

"Simple," Kai smiled. "First, I had to realise that my dislike of Solo was, ah," he looked at her awkwardly.

"Ridiculous?" Zane put forward.

"Stupid?" Jay suggested.

"Misguided," Kai settled on. "And then," He looked at Lloyd. "I realised that my destiny wasn't to become the Green Ninja, but," Everyone followed his gaze, and, as one, the four Golden Weapons started to glow. "To protect him," Kai finished.

Lloyd looked around. "Why are they doing that?"

"It's quite simple," Sensei Wu explained, looking at him solemnly. "You are the Green Ninja,"

Lord Garmadon's eyes widened. " _What_?"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Huh. I was planning to get both episode 10 and 11 in this chapter, but 10 got so long.**

 **Anyhoos. :) Nothing much to say, so, peace!**


	7. The Key To Ssspinjitzu

Chapter 7: The Key to Ssspinjitzu

The Destiny's Bounty cruised through the sky, and each of its current nine inhabitants had thoughts on their mind.

Lloyd sat in the small room that belonged to first him, and then Garmadon, and currently both. He was alone, and the Green Ninja gi was hanging on a coathanger on the other side of the room. The boy gazed at it, unable to stop thinking about one thing.

He was the Green Ninja. And the Green Ninja was fated to kill the Lord of Darkness.

And his father was the Lord of Darkness.

The door swung open and Lloyd looked up, expecting to see his father, or his uncle, or maybe even Kai.

Instead, a purple, scaly mass heaved herself through the door. Solo planted the upper section of her body on the stool nearby, and did her best to coil the fifteen-foot mass of muscle that was the lower part of her body around the stool without taking up too much space. "Hey," she nodded, looking at the boy.

"Hey, Solo," Lloyd nodded.

"It'sss not eassssy, I know," the Anacondrai nodded.

"What?" Lloyd asked, knowing what she was talking about but drawing out the conversation regardless.

Solo missed his understanding. "Having to fight on the opposite side to your family," she continued.

"Yeah, well, what would you know about that?" Lloyd snorted.

Solo cast him an irritated look. "I'm a Ssserpentine. More than that, I'm a relative of the psssycho who'sss trying to bring about the apocalypssse,"

The boy blinked. "You're related to Pythor?"

"Not directly," Solo clarified. "He'sss my mother'sss cousssin,"

"Oh," Lloyd nodded.

"Anacondrai . . usssed to be a tight-knit bunch. A lot of us were related somehow or other," Solo explained. "Before we ran out of food, at leassst . . then it wasss every sssnake for him or herssself. Pythor survived by being the most underhanded, the one who thought nothing of eating his relatives,"

"And how did you survive?" the boy asked. "You and Pythor are the only Anacondrai left,"

"Ssstealth," Solo sighed. "I wasss invisssible for yearsss on end, ssscavenging ssscrapsss and," She paused, shaking her head. "I did thingsss I'm not proud of to get by," the Serpentine admitted.

"And now it's just you and Pythor. And instead of trying to rebuild your species, you're enemies," Lloyd realised.

"Not quite. Now it'sss jussst me, and Pythor plusss every other sssnake in the world," Solo shook her head. "The point isss, I know how hard it isss to fight your family, but sssometimesss, well," She sighed, her two-foot neck drooping towards the ground. "If it'sss Pythor or all of Ninjago," Her eyes closed for the briefest second, and when they reopened, a new light of determination was present in her red sclera. "I can live with being the lassst of the Anacondrai,"

"You're right," Lloyd nodded. He took the Green Ninja gi off the coathanger and gazed into the green folds. "Ninjago's more important than me,"

X

The Bounty's hull was set into a parallel design; Sensei Wu and Nya both had deluxe accomodation, by virtue of being the Sensei and the only girl on board respectively. Sensei had considered forcing Solo and Nya to share once the Anacondrai came on board, but upon realising how vastly different modesty standards were between humans and Serpentine, he had decided that Solo was to have the smaller room adjacent to Nya's instead. The large room adjacent to Sensei's quarters housed the four ninja, and the room opposite it had been divided in two by a wooden partition; Solo owned one half and the other was home to the Garmadons. The rest of the ground floor was taken up by an assortment of storerooms and the engine room. Above the engine room was the kitchen and dining room, on level with the main deck of the ship, and at the very top rested the bridge.

Nya was tightening a bolt on the Samurai X mech in the bay she had turned her quarters into when Solo slithered in, holding the leather armour she had worn the previous night. Or, what was left of it. Large parts had been burnt away, one of the swords on the back had vanished and the other had melted, metal fusing into the leather. In her other hand, she held the singed remains of her staff. "Do you think you could fixss thisss?" the Anacondrai asked plaintively.

The Samurai gasped in horror, seeing the state of her armour. "What happened?"

"A volcano fell on top of me?" Solo reminded her, and Nya nodded. "Oh yeah, that happened," She examined the armour, recoiling at the acrid stench of burning leather. "Yeah, this is toast. Literally . . . I'm gonna have to start from scratch,"

"Really?" Solo blinked. "Ooh, how about light green and purple?"

Nya blinked. "Well, the signature colour of the ninja is gold, so I'll need to add some of that. Sure, though . . but why?"

"It'sss the overall coloursss of the Ssserpentine," Solo explained. "Might asss well have sssome ssspeciesss pride, right?"

"Got it," Nya nodded.

"What are you doing to the mech?" the Anacondrai asked, curious, slithering over to see that Nya was juryrigging several cannons and an additional seat to the side of the Samurai X mech. "Adding a shotgun seat, for Sensei," the girl explained.

"Aww," Solo sighed. She had kinda hoped the second seat was for her.

"Hey, hey. I'll build you your own mech or something," Nya assured her. "It's not like we have a shortage of parts, as long as Ed and Edna are open for business,"

"Who?" she asked.

"Oh, right, you missed their visit. Ed and Edna are Jay's parents. They own a junkyard," Nya explained. "It's where I got most of the parts to build this thing," she affectionately patted the mech.

"Cool," Solo nodded.

"So, you and Kai, huh? Never thought I'd see the day," Nya wryly smiled.

"Oh, shut up," her friend snorted, carefully pronouncing the 'sh' sound so as not to hiss. The end result was that the word sounded more like 'chut', but still.

"So, any closer to mastering Spinjitzu?" Nya asked, curious.

"Nope," Solo sighed. "I thought that maybe having a proper fight might help, becaussse that was how the boysss unlocked theirsss, but nothing,"

"Aww, hey. That wasn't how it worked for me," Nya shrugged.

"Yeah?"

In demonstration, Nya dropped the tools and jumped to her feet, before raising her arms and launching into a whirlwind of maroon energy. Solo blinked in surprise, watching the dark red vortex of Spinjitzu for a few moments, as her friend skidded to a halt. "It was just a matter of practise. If there's one thing I've learnt throughout my life, it's that with enough work, you always get a payoff," she grinned.

"Doesssn't ssseem to be working for me," Solo shook her head.

"It'll come. Just wait for the key to be ready," Nya advised her.

"Thanksss," Solo nodded.

"And in the meantime, what do you know about fighting with weapons?" the black-haired girl had an idea.

"Er," Solo paused. "I can hit things with a ssstick?" she suggested.

"That's what I thought," Nya chuckled, deciding to pitch her idea. "It might be an idea to get Kai to teach you a thing or two about swordplay, then. Or ask Sensei how he does those things with his staff. Swordplay in particular would be good, because it doesn't require much footwork," she suggested. "Spinjitzu's not bad bare-handed, but it does best with a weapon,"

"Good idea," Solo nodded. "I'll asssk Sensei later,"

X

The day progressed uneventfully. Eventually, Solo made her way to the small room behind the dining room where Sensei had his meditation sessions.

"Ah, my newest student," the wizened old man greeted her as she entered. "Why have you come?"

Solo picked up the bamboo staff leant against the wall, and experimentally tested its weight in her claws. "Can you teach me how to fight with a ssstaff?"

Sensei Wu frowned, appraising the eager young Serpentine. "Hmm. I'm not sure how well it would work for you, as combative staff users can usually use their legs,"

"Well, I need some kind of weapon. I jussst thought a ssstaff would be good," the Anacondrai shrugged, returning the staff to its position. "What would you recommend, then?"

The teacher rose, frowning in thought. "The conventional arts of the ninja are all focused on the user being mobile, able to move fast and lithe,"

"I can move fassst," Solo protested, and it was true. In spite of her tail, she was surprisingly agile, capable of a variety of twists and motions.

"I know. You are fast and flexible, but you are not light on your feet. Namely because you don't have any," Sensei joked with a wry smile, before returning to seriousness. "The normal way of the ninja may not be for you, however there is such a thing as a hybrid style," he explained.

"Hybrid ssstyle?" Solo asked.

"A mixture, of ninja techniques and other fighting methods. I would recommend acquiring a shield," the elderly man suggested. "The Anacondrai of old fought by combining a strong defence with a powerful attack. If you could learn to use a sword and shield combination in combat, then that would be a good place to start,"

"Where do I learn sssomething like that, though?" the Serpentine frowned.

"I am certain that, if you asked, Nya would forge you an appropriate shield, and we have no shortage of spare katanas. As for the technique, we can begin on that once you have acquired your weapons. For now," Sensei rose from his seat and drew two swords from a decorative display on the wall. "We shall begin on your swordplay as soon as you have relayed the need for armour and a shield to Nya,"

Solo nodded, smiling through her fangs, and turned to leave.

X

Steel clashed against steel. "Remember, your greatest strength is your defence!" Sensei commanded, pulling his sword back, twirling around and bringing it up again in a stunning blow. Solo twisted her blade to block, but the sheer force of the blow knocked the katana from her claws.

"Isssn't this a little irrelevant? I'm gonna have a big ch-ield, why do I need to know how to block with a sssword?" the Anacondrai questioned as she retrieved her blade.

"As you just demonstrated, weapons can be knocked out of a person's hand. If you lose your shield in the middle of a battle, your opponent will not stop to wait for you to retrieve it," Sensei Wu reasoned.

"Alright, I get it," Solo nodded, raising her sword - and the trainer immediately launched forwards in a flurry of blows.

The snake flung herself backwards, intimidated, and promptly turned invisible. The sword apparently levitated in mid-air, dancing backwards.

"Good," Sensei smiled. "Your invisibility is an asset, you simply must learn to render your weaponry invisible as well,"

The sword rippled, flickering in and out of existence, before resolving into a solid shape and rapidly growing a large purple snake. Solo panted. "You have no idea how hard it isss to extend invisssibility to something that Isssn't part of you," she hissed.

The four ninja were sitting nearby, watching and enthralled. "I guess Solo really is one of us now," Cole grinned.

"Yeah. Only real ninja get put through the training wringer by Sensei Wu," Jay agreed.

"Harder than living with those four twenty-four-seven?" the Sensei sagely asked the Serpentine.

"Believe it or not, yessssss," Solo trailed off, inadvertently dragging out the hiss.

Sensei shook his head in amusement. "I do not believe anything possesses that level of difficulty,"

X

A week passed. Solo kept training, mostly with Sensei, but Kai and Nya, the masters of the sword on the team, helped out.

The four ninja went out on searching patrols daily, looking for the Serpentine. But to no avail, Solo reflected. To quote Cole, "The only Serpentine I've seen all day is you,"

The next morning, all nine people on board the Bounty met in the bridge. "Thanks to the boys," Nya started. "We know that the Serpentine are on their way to the fourth Fang Blade,"

"What we don't know is how," Kai frowned. "They haven't been seen in days,"

Garmadon cleared his throat. "Maybe we should ask the only genuine snake here if she has any ideas?" he acidly suggested.

Cole snorted. "I'd make a crack about you being just as reptilian, but that would be an insult to snakes,"

"No, he'sss right," Solo nodded. "I know what I am, and I might asss well make the mossst of it,"

She frowned, looking at the holographic map in the centre of Ninjago. Two orange dots marked the Temple of Fire, and Mega Monster Amusement Park. There would have been a third, but they didn't know where exactly the Fang Blade that was part of the Blade Cup had been hidden. "Where were the five tombsss? The Fang Bladesss wouldn't have been near any of the tombsss," she reasoned, and, typing a quick command into the computer, five blue dots appeared, showing each of the tombs. As Solo had predicted, both of the known places the Blades had been hidden were nowhere near the other four.

"Knowing where they were won't help us," Garmadon growled.

"You sssure?" Solo slyly smirked. "The tombsss are important, that'sss for sure. They're Ssserpentine territory, and you don't messsss with what worksss,"

"The Constrictai can borrow underground like nothing else," Cole put forward.

Nya's eyes lit up with an idea. "Computer, give me a sweep of the ground underneath Ninjago,"

The map rotated and moved upward, as the image grew. First the five tombs appeared, rapidly followed by several passageways that not only connected the five tombs, but ran offshoots like a spiderweb all over Ninjago, all leading back to one massive chamber underneath the Constrictai tomb.

"It would appear that that is how they are getting around," Zane observed with a rueful smile.

"A massive network of tunnels underneath Ninjago! Sis, you're a genius!" Kai grinned.

"All this is very good and well, but it doesn't tell us where the fourth Fang Blade is," Garmadon frowned.

"Yesss, it doesss," Solo hissed in satisfaction. "Where do the tunnelsss lead that isssn't anywhere near any of the five tombsss?"

Each of the ninja and friends looked over the map. Jay was the first to spot it. "The coast! Right near the City of Stiix!"

Cole whistled as the readouts for Serpentine life signs popped up in the desired area. "Yowza. That's a lot of snakes,"

"Too many to risk an assault," Zane agreed. "We'd be slaughtered," Kai nodded.

Lloyd Garmadon stepped forward. "Hey, guys?" he put forwards.

"If you've got something to say, kid, spit it out," Cole encouraged him.

"Well, uh," the boy stuttered.

Kai placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. You're one of us now,"

The green-clad boy nodded solemnly. "Okay. Well, if we can't go after the fourth Fang Blade, what about trying to get the other three?"

"Unlikely," Zane shook his head. "Pythor would not be foolish enough to keep all three Fang Blades in the same location,"

"But that's good," Jay corrected him. "It means that we have three times as much chance of finding at least one of them,"

"He's right," Nya agreed with a smile. "If we can keep even one Fang Blade out of Pythor's hands, we win,"

"And I'd bet my tail that at leassst one of them isss in that big chamber in the sssentre," Solo grimly smiled.

"Then it's settled," Kai smiled. "Everyone, get ready. We're launching an attack on the Mountain of a Million Steps in an hour,"

X

"We have been over this before, Lloyd," Sensei gently reprimanded the young ninja.

"But I wanna help. I wanna fight!" Lloyd whined.

The four ninja looked on, ready for battle and just waiting for the girls to arrive. "If it makes you feel any better, I do not intend to join them either," Sensei Wu assured him.

With a clank, the Samurai X Mech appeared on deck, Nya at the helm. "Hey, Sensei! I rigged up the mech with a co-pilot seat!" she narrated. "What do you think?"

Sensei Wu took one look at the chair Nya had attached to the mech's shoulder and smiled. "I think . . ." He leapt from the ground, soaring into the air and landing perfectly in the chair. "Shotgun!" he crowed.

Lloyd sighed as Solo joined the boys. Unfortunately, Nya had yet to repair her armour, so she was just wielding her steel staff. "Am I the only one not going on this mission?"

"No. Lord Garmadon shall remain as well," Sensei called down to him.

"Wait, are we certain that leaving Lord Garmadon and his son alone on our ship is safe?" Kai suddenly frowned.

"He proved trustworthy during the battle at the Temple of Fire," Zane reasoned, and the red ninja's frown deepened, before pausing as he remembered his former opinions on Solo. "No. I'll trust him," Kai decided.

"Then it's settled! Let's go!" Nya declared as her mech lifted off, making the short jump between the deck of the Bounty and the top of the mountain. "Ninja GO!" the four boys cheered, leaping after them.

Solo chuckled, rolling her eyes at their antics, before carefully springing off her tail and following them. Behind her, Lloyd sighed and went below decks.

"The seal's open," Cole whispered, looking down at the tomb door.

"What are we waiting for?" Jay demanded, leaping in. The others followed him, Nya carefully landing to ensure that her mech wouldn't make any noise.

"This place is empty!" Kai frowned, looking around.

"Guys, remember the map," Nya explained. "There's a massive chamber somewhere beneath us. We just need to find the entrance,"

"Hey, check this out!" Cole called from further into the chasm. The team turned and followed the sound of his voice.

"That is just wrong," Kai shook his head, gazing at the picture Cole had found.

Four grotesque, disproportionate faces, clad in what was recognisable as ninja masks, adorned the wall. "Is that supposed to be me?" Jay demanded, gesturing at one of the paintings.

"You know, in Ssserpentine culture it isss a great honour to be included in a cave painting," Solo jokingly remarked. "I think that I can live without that particular honour," Nya shook her head.

"I think that that one is supposed to be you," Zane 'helpfully' commented, gesturing at a fifth shape, this one with a horrific expression and long, twin horns on its head. Nya sighed.

"They could at least give me a decent moustache," Cole snorted, rubbing at his painting's twin commas underneath his eyes.

As he did, a hidden button was depressed underneath his fingers. Suddenly the entire wall slid away, leaving a massive passage cut out of the wall.

"The Conssstrictai mussst have evolved," Solo noticed. "I didn't know they had invented automatic doorsss,"

"Come on!" Kai declared, leading the way in utter silence. The group followed, the well-oiled hinges of the Samurai X mech making no sound in the darkness of the chasm.

After a while, the chamber opened out further, placing them on a platform cut into the roof of a massive chamber. "Holy cow, these guys have been busy," Jay breathed as they snuck into the chamber. The place was massive, with a large area at the bottom. Hundreds of Serpentine were amassed at the bottom, gathered around a particular tunnel. In the centre was a dais, with a four-part pedestal that bore three of the Fang Blades. "Whaddya know. Pythor was stupid enough to keep all four Fang Blades in one place," Jay quietly observed. The ninja increased their pace, sensing something was coming. Nerves jangling, Solo flickered in and out of the visible spectrum, her scales shifting between purple and brown at random.

Suddenly, there was a massive uproar, and, freezing in place, the ninja watched as Pythor emerged, triumphantly raising the Fang Blade. "We are victorious!" he declared. There was uproar, and the Serpentine cheered in excitement. "Now, my brothers and sisters, we have won! We shall take the Fang Blades to the city of Ouroboros and awaken the Great Devourer!" The Serpentine cheered in response.

Cole looked behind him, and spotted Solo's nostrils flaring. He placed a gloved hand on her scales in reassurance.

"Come on. We have to keep moving," Nya hissed from her mech, making it move forward. As it did, the great, plated foot hit a loose rock, sending it over the edge. It skittered, bouncing off the walls, and the Serpentine went silent. The rock rolled through the crowd and came to rest at Pythor's tail. He looked up, and spotted the infiltrators. "Ninja!" he shrieked.

It was no contest. Battling on constricted ground, where the rock could give way at any moment, and only one ninja could present themselves to the enemy at a time, it was hopeless. Within minutes, they had been captured, stripped of their weapons, and suspended within a cage that hung in the centre of the great ceiling. Their weapons - even the mech - had been affixed to more chains that hung just out of reach. Cole and Jay were using whatever came to hand to play checkers - mostly rocks, and Sensei and Zane were meditating. Kai paced back and forth irritably, while the girls in the group peered through the bars, looking down at the proceedings below.

Beneath them, Pythor and his subordinate generals were squabbling, arguing about something. Eventually it was settled, and, as far as Solo could tell, Pythor lost. "Tomorrow, we unleash the Great Devourer! But tonight, we celebrate! With the Slither-Pit!" he declared, and his followers roared in response.

"What's the Slither-Pit?" Nya asked Solo out of curiosity.

"Arena combat. Two sssnakesss enter, one sssnake leavesss," the Serpentine responded. "There'sss a bunch of typesss and bonusesss and ssstuff, but that'sss the gissst of it. It's actually kind of sssimilar to that Sssuper Sssmash Brosss. game Jay hasss,"

"Real-life video games. Why not?" Nya huffed.

"The Ssslither Pit isss an ancient and honourable tradition developed by my ancessstorsss! It isss far more than a 'real life video game'!" Solo retorted.

"Whatever," the samurai shook her head. It was a little strange how fiercely Solo defended her heritage when she simultaneously went against it by helping them.

"What are you doing?" Kai asked, as Nya scooped up Cole's rocks - to protests from the black and blue ninjas - and began throwing them at her mech. "I'm trying to get one to hit the com button. Then we can ring the Bounty," she justified herself.

"And call who? The Lord of Darkness, or his novice son?" her brother pointed out.

"Why can't you all just use your elemental powers to get out of here?" Solo asked.

"The cell is made of Vengestone. It cancels our elemental magic," Sensei explained.

There was a clunk as one of the rocks made contact, and there was a crackle as the radio switched on. "Lloyd! Can you hear me?" Nya whisper-shouted.

"Hello? Guys?" Lloyd's voice echoed from the mech.

"Where is your father?" Sensei rose from his crouch and questioned.

"I don't know. I caught him trying to steal our secrets, and he left," Lloyd huffed.

Kai growled. "I knew we couldn't trust him,"

"Are you guys in trouble? I'm coming to help!" the child's voice called, and everyone immediately protested. "No!" But he had already signed off.

"I sense this will end badly," Zane sighed. "Gee, Frosty, ya think?" Cole huffed.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before Lloyd, clad in green, was dashing down the passageways towards the crowd of snakes. The ninja tried to wave him away without drawing any negative attention, but he was undeterred.

Finally, he reached the bottom of the stairs, and whistled loudly, though his mask, to get everyone's attention.

At the sight, Pythor burst out laughing. "Release my friends, or suffer my wrath!" Lloyd squeakily declared.

The Serpentine King chuckled. "Oh really? You and what army?" he demanded.

"How about, uh, my, army of fists!" the Green Ninja shouted, launching a punch into the air. The entire Serpentine race collapsed into hysterics.

But then a new voice piped up. "Or how about this one!" Lord Garmadon shouted, magically emerging from the shadows cast against the wall. Behind him, skeletal warriors followed, an army of undead armed with rusty blades and tarnished axes appearing throughout the cavern.

"He brought the Skulkin," Cole gasped from the cage.

Solo looked around in confusion. "The what?"

"It's a long story," Jay summarised.

The battle broke out in earnest, Skeletons and Serpentine clashing relentlessly. Pythor cursed and hit a lever on his control panel, before making a grab for the pedestal carrying the four Fang Blades.

The cage around the ninja gave a jerk and began to lower, as the pit beneath them opened to reveal a massive vat of acid. "Pythor's getting away!" Cole shouted, spotting the Serpentine making for the tunnels.

"You guysss might have bigger problemsss," Solo pointed out, gesturing to the acid beneath them. "Asss a Serpentine, I'm immune, but," she whistled through her fangs.

"Can't Anacondrai do that invisible teleporty thing?" Jay asked.

"Even if I did know how to do that, we can't take passengers along for the ride," the Serpentine responded.

"Well, now is the time to figure it out," Sensei suggested.

Kai, deciding not to trust that Solo would spontaneously learn snake magic, rushed to the edge and gestured to Lloyd. "Hey! Kid! Get to those levers!" he shouted, indicating the control panel.

Solo took a deep breath and focused, envisioning the mouth of the tunnel that Pythor was aiming for. Her scales rippled, leaving the visible spectrum, and she focused, trying desperately to draw out the power.

It didn't work, she was sure. With a sigh, she opened her eyes and relaxed her invisibility, stating, "Sssorry, guysss, but it jussst -"

"Where the bloody hell did you come from?" Pythor demanded, stunned that his niece had spontaneously appeared, blocking his path.

"It worked?" she blinked in shock.

"Well, you'll never feel it again!" the other snake hissed, rearing back to stab her with the Fang Blades.

A steel scythe appeared, hooking the blades, and pulled them out of his grasp. Lord Garmadon snatched them up with his spare hand, and offered his sword to Solo, who accepted it. Pythor hissed defiantly at him, using the general's staff to launch a blow at his head.

Solo blindsided him, deflecting his blow with her katana, and forced him to retreat. "Help the ninja," she commanded the Lord of Darkness. "I'll handle my uncle," he declared.

"Uncle?" Pythor blinked. Recognition cleared the fog of confusion from his eyes, as he recognised the three intertwining lines that ran down Solo's back and tail. "Oh, you're my cousin's daughter, aren't you? S-Sally, wasn't it?"

In response, Solo attempted to decapitate him. He blocked effortlessly and retaliated, swinging the heavy butt of his staff at her midriff. "No? Sorrel, is it, then?"

"Solo!" she hissed, driving him closer to the pit of acid.

"I'll make sure to put it on your gravestone, then, when I bury you with the rest of our kind!" Pythor retorted, forcing her back. Looking over her shoulder, he spotted that Lord Garmadon was getting a little too far away with his Fang Blades. "As much as I enjoy this, I'm afraid I'll have to finish you off later," he declared, vanishing from the visible spectrum and pulling his staff with him. Solo swiped the air where he had been experimentally, and met no resistance. She cursed, looking around, and was unsurprised to find him attempting to coRner Lord Garmadon.

There was a screech of metal behind her, and she spared a glance to see that the ninja had escaped their cage, with help from Lloyd, and Nya had gotten back in her mech. Satisfied that between them and the Skulkin they could handle rhea rest of the Serpentine, Solo charged after Pythor, pushing through the remaining Serpentine, who were too preoccupied to realise that she wasn't on their side.

With only his scythe and nunchucks, Lord Garmadon was fighting unable to use his full capabilities, and Pythor was slowly gaining the upper hand. Finally, he knocked the dark lord over the edge of the cliff and snatched the Fang Blades from him as he fell.

"Ssstop right there," Solo challenged, brandishing her katana.

"You again?" Pythor growled, frustrated. "Give it up! I don't know what those humans told you to make you side with them, but I won't let some errant cousin get in my way!"

Gold met steel as they returned to the fight. "There's a sssaying I've learnt sssince essscaping the tomb," Solo hissed. "Ninja never quit!"

"Ninja? Don't make me laugh," the older snake huffed. "Let me tell you something, cousin. If you'd been there, if you'd seen what your precious humans did to us, you wouldn't be siding with those 'ninja',"

"No, I don't know. And I don't want to," the female declared, lashing out with a furious stroke and knocking him backwards. "Thessse are different times, you're fighting different humansss," Furious power built within her body, and on instinct, she lapsed into the rhythms and strokes she had learnt on the Bounty's training course. Suddenly, the fight seemed synchronised, coordinated. Ducking under the staff, pushing against the wall to hit him from the side, "I only have one thing to sssay to you, uncle!" she spat, flickers of purple and green energy building around her body and rotating in concentric circles. Solo took no notice of the vortex that was forming with her in the centre, single-mindedly determined to defeat her enemy. "Ninja- _GO_!" she shrieked, launching into a twisting whirlwind of Spinjitzu energy.

Across the cavern, the ninja paused and took notice. "Guys, are you seeing this?" Cole demanded, watching in awe.

"Solo's doing Spinjitzu!" Jay crowed.

Sensei smiled, proud.

Pythor had no idea how to respond, confronted with the maelstrom of steel and energy that he was facing. He squeaked as the borrowed sword came too close to his neck, and, with a mighty thrust, Solo's Spinjitzu vortex forced him downwards, before dying as his niece centred her body on his midriff. She dropped the sword and snatched away the golden staff that denoted Pythor's rank. "By the ancient virtue of trial by combat, I claim ownership of this staff, and with it, command over the tribe of the Anacondrai!" Solo declared, raising his rank of office into the air. "And I'll take these too, while I'm at it," she declared, relieving him of the Fang Blades. "I've got them, guys! Let's go!" the Anacondrai shouted to her ninja companions.

Samurai X's mech strode over and scooped her up. The two girls grinned at each other, before the mech's foot-rockets activated, lifting into the air. The ninja regrouped, Kai dragging Lloyd with him, and Nya swerved over to pick them up. "Come on, let's get out of here," the samurai declared, piloting the mech upwards towards the rooftop entrance.

Lord Garmadon quietly watched them go, before signing and shaking his head. "Alright, everyone! We're done here, let's go!" he declared to the Skulkin.

X

There was a party.

That's the only way to describe it. Nya set up disco lights, and Jay and Kai went and bought junk food, and Cole showed off everything that his father had ever taught him under the flashing lights.

Solo felt euphoric. It was unreal, unbelievable. She was a Master of Spinjitzu! Three times during the night, she went out on deck and launched into a Spinjitzu tornado, just to prove to herself that it wasn't all some kind of dream. It was just so incredible.

Eventually, though, she accepted it. The party wound down, the Blades locked in the Bounty's strongbox, and the autopilot set for Torchfire Mountain; the only thing in Ninjago hot enough that it could possibly destroy the Fang Blades. Then this entire debacle would be over and done with. Sure, the Serpentine might still be a problem, but they could be dealt with. The Anacondrai smiled to herself. Things were looking up ninja.

A/N

 **A/N**

 **FYI, if anyone doesn't understand the 'modesty' joke when I was explaining the Bounty's layout, consider this; with the exception of when she was wearing the harness Nya made her, Solo has technically been naked all this time. XD**

 **And there we have it! Everything's gonna be hunky-dory now that they've got the Fang Blades, Solo's learned Spinjitzu and they're only hours away from total victory. Right?**

 **{bursts out laughing}** ** _Riiiight_** **. XD**

 **Peace!**


End file.
